Trials of a Shinobi
by Dark-Angel-Cronos
Summary: Stopped. I started writing again and kinda reached a point where i can't seem to find a good way to write anymore. sorry guys. On hold.
1. Suspicious

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Naruto I am simply borrowing them to create a story of my own, each and all of the characters (excluding OC's that shall be introduced later) are owned by someone else.

Authors note: Ola Everybody i've updated this chapter a little i tried to make it a little easyier to read thats for sure. Second I went in and changed a few lines i knew i made typo's on. This chapter was the most perfected of all the chapters as it was the first and i had taken a week preparing it for its debue. It did really well and now i wish i had taken the same time with all the others. This story is placed a 3 years after the time skip so everyone's age is around 18-21 (Most of the rookies are 18 and later Temari comes in so she'll be the oldest at 21)

Couplings: NaruXHina, TemariXShika, ShinoXIno, and TentenXNeji thats it so far. More pairings are possible and i'm making a note now that you must all adhire too. If you submit a review asking for specific couplings. Take in mind that this story is gonna be long. And even if i don't it too i will break up couplings and make new ones for fans or plot devices. And trust me a few of these couples break up as plot devices.

**Trials of the Shinobi**

A Naruto Fan-Fiction

By Dark-Angel-Cronos

Part 1: A new Mission and New Country  
Chapter 1: Suspicious

The sun rises on Konoha to begin a new day but this day is special as it marks the 5,000th anniversary of a long forgotten contest of ninja skill much like the Chunnin exam but more deadly and far more intriguing. This contest is the main point of our story; it'll bring together ninja from all over the world to show to compete in a competition to see who is the master of all ninja, a true Kage of every nation, this competition was long forgotten by all the nations as it hasn't been held in over 500 years but now at last a new ninja village that is composed of shinobi from around the world and has become a unified village that contains many secrets of every village including jutsu's, artifacts, and forms of competition that when brought together have renewed the age old contest and now that the contest has been revived its occurrence could successfully shift the balance of all shinobi towards this new village or even worse essentially allow a village to gain power strong enough to destroy all other villages and to preserve the current order all the villages around the world are sending in their best shinobi of all rank to compete.

"A SPECIAL MISSION!" Naruto jumped in the air throwing his fist into the air as he received the letter frightening off letter carrier and successfully waking up most of the neighborhood.

"Yes! Hmmmm the letter says that I need to report to Tsunade as soon as possible, I guess I should get moving then" Naruto stuffing the letter into his pocket ran off in the direction of the Hokage's office with ninja speed his golden hair drying from his shower with the wind blasting him in the face as he ran. Naruto had recently been promoted to Chunnin after successfully returning Sasuke Uchiha from Orochimarus clutches so he had been expecting a new mission for a while. Upon arriving at the Hokage's office he noticed that he wasn't alone several other Shinobi were waiting outside the Hokage's door. Naruto noticed that Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi, his ninja team, in a corner waiting his arrival as they greeted him with small motion to come over there.

"Hey guys what's with all the other shinobi showing up? I thought this was a special mission surely it can't take this many shinobi for one mission can it?" Naruto was starting to question the requirements of the mission as he noticed that there were at least 6 other shinobi teams here each consisting of 3 trainees and one mentor.

"Yeah Kakashi sensei why are there so many teams." Sakura questioned her mentor while noticing that a lot of their friends were among the ones chosen to go on this mission.

"I'm not sure, I've never seen a mission that required this many shinobi." Kakashi lowered his Adult novel from his face to reveal that he had a slightly worried look in his eye as his head band covered his other Sharingan eye.

"There's at least 10 Jounin in this room, along with over 25 chunnin as well plenty of Shinobi I'm not sure about." Sasuke was leaning against the wall his bangs covering his eyes but the rest of his team could clearly see he was using his Sharingan to inspect the ninja chosen for this mission. Naruto turned and took count of who he knew quickly.

"Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Neji, Tenten, Rock Lee, and their Jounin mentors." Naruto was talking quietly his breath was getting heavy as he noticed that between them and the ones he knew there was an unbelievably large amount of ninja strength. He could only guess what with the other teams would bring to the picture; he guessed the mission must be something unbelievable like when they had stormed the sound village and confronted Orochimaru and his sound shinobi.

"46" Sasuke announced.

"What?" Sakura was confused. "46 what?"

"46 Chunnin, at least meaning there's quite a few Jounin." Sasuke began lowering his face so that his hair covered his face so no one but his team could tell he was talking.

"See Neji and Shikamaru are Jounin so they lower the ratio of Chunnin to Jounin by 2 meaning that there are 46 Chunnin not counting us meaning there's 18 Jounin 19 if you count Kakashi and add us into the mix of Chunnin but we can pretty much agree all of our skills are Jounin worthy just we haven't been promoted yet." Sasuke finished as his eyes turned back to normal and he lifted his head towards his team.

"That's insane! 19 ninja teams!" Naruto had become ecstatic and raised his voice alerting attention to himself and others. Sasuke quickly leaned over and knocked Naruto's head down then pulled him close so that he could whisper.

"Shut up you idiot, stop drawing attention to yourself and there are only 17 teams but 19 Jounin at least considering all others are Chunnin and the ratio remains the same." Sasuke pushed Naruto's head away as the blonde fell back on the floor the black haired nin quickly took his place against the wall again. Sakura chuckled at her two teammates it was good to have the team back together she had missed they're bickering and Sasuke's cool and calm nature.

"Come on Naruto," Sakura offered her hand to the blonde "whatever the mission we have to stay together I'm not losing either of you two again." Sakura made sure Sasuke heard her words and noted him as he gave a little humph in acknowledgement. Sakura was still head over heels in love with Sasuke and Naruto had actually started to forget about Sakura-chan as he had recently noticed someone else who actually liked him back. Naruto noticed his new interest standing off to the side shyly admiring him while her two teammates talked amongst themselves. Naruto gave a wave and made a small signal with his head for her to meet him off to the side.

"I'll be right back you guys." Naruto ran off with this poor excuse to be the only thing left behind.

"NARUTO! Where are you going?" Sakura called after him, he would disappear on her like this a lot lately it made her feel weird like she was jealous she didn't have his undivided attention all the time anymore.

"Let him be, Tsunade doesn't seem to want to talk to us yet we can afford a little relaxation time before our briefing." Kakashi motioned for the other two to do as the wished as he was deeply buried in his book.

"I'll be back I'm going to talk to Lee and Neji" Sasuke excused himself as Naruto and walked off towards the others leaving Sakura befuddled that her teammates had abandoned her.  
Off to the side we see Naruto talking with Hinata.

"What is it Naruto-kun?" After becoming a little closer to Naruto, Hinata wouldn't stumble with her words as often, but still blushed and looked down shyly. When she addressed him.

"I just wanted to talk with you Hinata-chan. Are you doing okay? Last night after I told you I had been promoted you seemed so happy yet after dinner so sad." Naruto made it a habit to lift Hinata's face up with a finger under her chin so he could make eye contact. "And now you still seem sad."

"Naruto-kun its nothing, just I've just been a little confused about some stuff lately." Although Hinata and Naruto had become good friends over the past 3 years since the end of their first Chunnin exam, she was still uncertain about how Naruto felt about her. Even more recently he had been spending quality time with her, well he called it hanging out, but he always seemed to make an excuse like the others, including Sakura, had other things to do so he thought he'd spend time with her. It was really bugging her, although he was spending time with her he often made it sound like it was the last place he wanted to be. "Naruto-kun, do…do you like spending time with me?" Hinata had finally gotten the words out; she was trying her best not to stumble them as she was becoming very nervous.

"Huh?" Naruto was confused, he had thought that he had mad it clear he liked her but he guessed maybe it had flown over her head.

"Gah, what a stupid question to ask" Naruto turned away quickly before she could see him smile.

"Huh, why is it a stupid question?" Hinata's voice became a whisper she felt hurt because she thought she knew what he meant. "You don't like spending time with me do you."

"Yeah you got it." Naruto was still looking away. "I don't like spending time with you," He started then turned towards her leaning in so she was inches away. He gave her a wide smile. "I love spending time with you" his smile got softer as he pulled away watching for a reaction.

"You…you…..lo love…it" Hinata couldn't help but stutter and stumble now. "Naruto-kun….you…you're so mean," She was trying to sound angry but a giggle escaped "why did you say you didn't like spending time with me. You made me sad." She tried her best to pout but her smile couldn't go away. He had said he loved spending time with her.

"Because, I don't just like spending time with you, I love it" he gave her another smile. "You're great to be around and hate seeing you sad so I'm sorry you were sad at first but isn't it better now?" He wraped an arm around her and gave her an affectionate squeeze like hug.

"Yes, but Naruto, I have another question now." Hinata felt happy enough and with him being so sweet just now she thought she might not faint if she asked. "Naruto do….do you……do you want to….well…um." It wasn't going well she couldn't get it out, but luckily he caught on and placed a finger over her lips so she didn't have to speak. He moved his finger and she looked at him. He smiled and gave her a nod then leaned in and gave her a light kiss. "Naruto-kun" Hinata stumbled back she felt light headed and fainted but Naruto caught her rushing around to the other side holding her up she didn't draw attention to them. He wasn't ready for this, her fainting and all.

"Hinata-chan wake up" he patted her cheek lightly so she'd wake up and she did. Her face was almost beat red as she realized he was holding her.

"Naruto-kun I'm sorry" she quickly moved away out of his arms and over to the side her face was red and she it she put her hands behind her back and backed into the corner for support. "I'm sorry I fainted, just you…you." She didn't get to finish he had come right next to her and wraped and arm around her back and waist. She was speechless now.

"It's alright, just don't go fainting again." He took her hand with his other and laced his fingers through hers.

"Oh Naruto-kun" Hinata finally knew he liked her back and in her mind she was jumping for joy. 'HE LIKES ME' her mind screamed out but she just smiled and laced her fingers back moving so she could lean against him. "Naruto-kun, will you hold me I'm still a little dizzy" She lied, she wasn't dizzy she just wanted to be close for a while.

"Sure thing Hinata" He unlaced his fingers and moved so she was leaning against him and wrapped both arms around her waist. "There that better" She was only a little shorter than him she he could rest his head on her shoulder and whisper to her.

"Yes, thank you Naruto-kun" She nuzzled him and he nuzzled back. "So, what now?" Hinata had always dreamed of this happening but she wasn't sure what to do next.

"I really don't know, but let's keep this our little secret for now okay, I wanna surprise the others later okay." He gave her a smile and pecked her on the cheek. "can you walk or should we stay like this cause I get the feeling we're going to be briefed soon." Truthfully he didn't wanna move from her either but he knew they'd be briefed soon and although he did want to surprise the others he was really just doing it so he wouldn't have Sakura teasing him on the mission today.

"I can walk, and okay I think I'd like to keep it low too." She didn't want Kiba or Shino teasing her although it really wasn't either their styles to tease her they defiantly would if they knew. She moved away but not too far as Naruto had grabbed her hand so she couldn't run off. "What is it I thought we were gonna get ready for the briefing." Hinata gave him a puzzled look.

"What no kiss goodbye?" He gave her a sly smile and stole another kiss before she could react. "I'll talk to you later, and don't go fainting on me okay" He gave her a quick hug and walked off slowly just incase she fainted again he could catch her.

"Okay" Hinata's brain had an overload and she just kind went out of it as she walked back to her group she had a plastered on smile that screamed I'm happy and a expression like she'd never come down off cloud 9.

While all this love fest was going on we change our attention back to Sasuke as he was talking to Neji and Lee off to other side Naruto had been in view and they had noticed Hinata fainting but weren't too worried.

"So like I was saying Sasuke what do you think is going on, all these nin for one mission?" Neji was having thoughts about this and he didn't like any of them.

"I don't know but I can tell it's gonna be big no matter what since she called in all of us" Sasuke was speaking of the Rookie 9 as His, Shikamaru's, and Kiba's teams were often to referred as. "Plus you guys, something important is happening this is gonna be at least A rank." Sasuke looked at Lee who looked like he had something on his mind. "What is it Lee." Lee turned and gave Sasuke gave him a puzzled look.

"It's nothing I assure you, just something Gai sensei said to me earlier, it's been bothering me but its non of you or Neji's concern." Lee seemed anxious now to get off the subject, as luck would have it the door to Tsunade's office had opened and everyone had grown silent. A Jounin with a headband of a foreign village stepped out, a village symbol Sasuke had never seen before.

"Tsunade would like Gai's, Kakashi's, Kureni's, and Asuma's teams to please come in." The unknown Jounin turned around and headed back into the office.

"Hmmm looks like we're about to find out what's going on." Neji was first to move towards the door. As he stepped towards the door slowly followed by the other's Sasuke and Naruto heading back towards Kakashi and Sakura.

"I wonder why all these other ninja are here if it's only these four teams being called?" Sakura said to herself but the boys had overheard and Naruto had something to say.

"It's because we're the best, we retrieved Sasuke remember and we lead the assault on the Sound village, she needs the best." Naruto had suddenly grown rather intense and serious in his tone. Sasuke and Kakashi nodded at his comment and gave Sakura a nod that he was right.

"Hmmm if you guys say so." Sakura finished as the groups had entered the room and she shut the door behind them all.

Authors Note: Okay, chapter 1's editing is done. If you notice i didn't make nay actualy content changes. Thats because it really didn't need them but i did make technical changes here and their as well i placed a single bar of space as a spacer between characters during dialouge. HinXNaru in this one. More couplings later.


	2. Arrangements

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Naruto I am simply borrowing them to create a story of my own, each and all of the characters (excluding OC's that shall be introduced later) are owned by someone else.

Authors note: Okay Editing of second chapter. I've tried to smooth stuff out inbetween different scenes and i fixed a few things i felt were wrong in each of the scenes as well completely ditched the KakXKurenai realtionship. This chapter introduces two new pairings. ShikaXTemari, and NejiXTenten. As well things get juicy between Hinata and Naruto.

**Trials of the Shinobi**

A Naruto Fan-Fiction

By Dark-Angel-Cronos

Part 1: A New Mission and a New Country

Chapter 2: Arrangements.

Tsunade was not having a good day, things had grown hectic and she wasn't prepared for what had happened. She had received a letter of grave importance yesterday explaining in detail she had 24 hours before a vessel would arrive to pickup candidates for the Tournament. She had been sitting in her chair impatiently waiting for the ship to arrive before calling in the nin to go on the mission for briefing, no sense in getting them ready without them being able to leave. As she was rolling the thoughts she would say during the briefing there was a knock on the back wall from the outside. She had realized they had come and landed on the secret balcony outside. She quickly stood up and walked over to the back wall tapping a small panel in the wall lowering a door in the wall to let the nin in. "Come in, I'll bring in the nin and you can take them after I brief them." Tsunade had returned to her seat and removed a clipboard from a drawer, which she quickly handed to the unknown nin. He was tall and had scruffy black hair as well a very pale complexion and was outfitted with strange foreign clothing not unlike Konoha's with a flak jacket and a headband but still strangely arranged and the headband symbol was that of a 6 point star.

"These are the ones then, I'll call them in." He moved towards the door and after calling their names they entered and formed a line of apprentices and their teachers behind them. Tsunade stood and moved in front of them.

"You 16 have been chosen to represent Konoha in a age old competition that'll be held in a far off country. This mission will be ranked S and from this point on your rank as ninja means nothing but if you return you all will be promoted to Sannin." Tsunade looked and noticed Sakura had a puzzled look about her face as did many others, she scoffed for a second and begun again. "For if and when you return you will be considered legends for being accepted for this task. In the past 500 years this competition hasn't been held and thus if and when you return you will be legendary ninja just like I was." She noticed she had cleared up the confusion in their appearances and begun with her final words. "So are you up for it? This mission will be beyond deadly and some of you may not return alive. If you accept you have here by dedicated yourself in representing Konoha in this competition and if you fail you will have disgraced the Konoha name as well as your own. If you wish to back out now nothing will be held against you but if you accept say so now." Tsunade only had a moment before every ninja had replied with a definite hai. "Well then since we're all in agreement lets get you on your way" Tsunade had slowly been making her way back to the panel she had touched before but now she hit a different panel and the entire back wall came falling into the ground revealing the balcony and a humongous airship that was floating in air being held up by huge revolving fan blades up shooting like masts on a ship.

"WOAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Naruto couldn't help but wow at the ship in amazement while he embarrassed both his teammates and made his new girlfriend giggle at his funny expression. He turned towards the others too see if anybody else was as star struck and when he realized he was the only one he quickly stood back in attention and put his hand behind his head in embarrassment.

"This is your ride to the island country where the competition will be held. I wish you good luck as my job here is finished, he will now lead you on board and get you situated." Tsunade pointed towards the un enounced nin who had called them in he stepped forward not looking at any of the nin and walked past them then waving a hand behind him for them to follow. The nin followed him slightly breaking ranks and moving close to friends so they could discuss what was going on Sasuke quickly moved towards Neji and Lee while Naruto waited back a bit and moved close with Hinata lacing his fingers through hers.

"Simply amazing, I wasn't expecting this, were you Hinata-chan?" Naruto questioned her as he examined the ship he was boarding.

"No way, who on earth could have guessed this would happen." Hinata was slightly less star struck as Naruto but was still pretty amazed as the unknown nin led them around to the front of the airship where a large number of other ninja wear conversing.

"Sasuke, what do you think about this competition" Neji wasn't so interested in the ship he was more interested in the competition and if he was going get the chance to face off against some strong ninja. Neji had always wanted to prove he was strong since he wasn't apart of the head Hyuuga family he often felt unnoticed but it was far from that.

"Hmmm I think it'll be a good chance to test out some new techniques I've been developing, how about you?" Sasuke had small rivalries with Neji, Lee, and Naruto that he had long wanted to settle but beyond practice matches never got any further.

"Heh same here and I promise I'll give you a good match if we're forced to fight one another." Neji knew what Sasuke was thinking and he had started thinking the same thing.

"What about you Lee?" Sasuke had heard what he wanted from Neji but he wanted to know the same of Lee.

"Are you kidding, hard work conquers all I'll trounce you both if the time comes!" Lee was very confident since he had surpassed his handicap of permanent injuries from his fight with Gaara long ago in their first Chuunin exam. The others did not know Lee had overcome the handicaps but they would soon find out that he had grown much stronger over the years.

"Looking forward to see you try" Sasuke and Neji replied in unison, they had gotten used to Lee being over confidant and learned very much what the other was gonna say.

We now move to some others who haven't gotten much attention. Shikamaru and Ino were off to the side with Chouji talking about this competition. Shikamaru was first to speak.

"Hmmm this mission seems so troublesome. Why did they have to pick me?" Shikamaru found most things in life troublesome but often agreed to them otherwise, no one, not even Shikamaru knew why he did so.

"You didn't have to say yes with the rest of us" Ino was annoyed that Shikamaru had barely been on the ship a minute and was already complaining. "Jeez why do you do these things?"

"I don't know it just seemed like not a trouble idea at the time but the more I think about it becomes one." Shikamaru was lying through his teeth as he spoke to Ino. The real reason he came on this mission was because he knew he'd get a chance to see Temari as this was clearly a mission that involved many countries and he hoped sand was one of them.

"Gah stop fighting and help me look and see if there's a buffet or something around this place." Chouji like always was interested in food and really needed a bite of something or he'd go mad as he hadn't realized he would be heading out directly and only had his normal emergency 6 bags of potato and shrimp chips, three of each respectively.

"Ugh, Chouji get your mind off food for once that nin from another country hasn't even told us we're good to explore the ship yet." Ino was slightly annoyed that her two partners were such a hassle sometimes.

"Yeah he did, like just five minutes ago while you were giving me and Chouji the second degree, god you're so troublesome." Shikamaru had finished with a shake of his hanging head and gone off to try and find Temari.

"Huh" Ino was confused as she hadn't heard a thing and was now watching her teammate walk off. "SHIKAMARU!"

"I smell food" Chouji saw his chance to escape the clutches of Ino and headed off in the direction of the kitchen.

"What!" Ino had turned around just to see Chouji go through a door into a cabin. "OH MY GOD MY TEAMATES ARE IDIOTS!" Ino screamed as she was tired of her two incompetent teammates and friends.

To be honest the ship wasn't unlike an ocean cruise only air born, it had all the luxuries one could need and plenty of food and space below to house the many nin that would be boarding it to the island where the competition would be held and the four team leaders where handing out key cards for cabins downstairs as each nin actually got their own cabin. Ino got hers and her teammates as they had disappeared and to Naruto and Hinata's luck they had adjacent rooms and as Kakashi and Kurenai left Naruto had a devilish idea.

"Hinata chan. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Naruto was looking at his key card with a wickedly sly smile. Hinata had started to catch on when she saw his face but decided to play dumb and let him pull her along a little she found it fun and a little kinky to play the naive maiden.

"No, what are you thinking?" she gave him her best puzzled look. Naruto gave her a smile and wrapped his arm around hers.

"Come on I'll show you" and they ran off in the direction of wear Kakashi and Kurenai had said the cabins were located. Meanwhile Shikamaru still hadn't found Temari but Sakura had found Ino and was talking to her about her incompetent teammates.

"MY GOD THEY'RE SUCH JERKS! Ditching me to go off for food and who knows what with Shika-kun" Ino was raging not even noticing she had used her pet name for Shikamaru from back when they were together, but Sakura noticed it and had let out a little gasp. "What?" Ino thought something was weird.

"You still have feelings for Shikamaru!" Sakura couldn't contain her self, she and Ino had become close friends again and was very used to girl talking with Ino.

"I DO NOT!" Ino raged her eyes growing wide and her face becoming red "WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU THINK THAT!"

"You said Shika-kun" Sakura lowered her hands from her mouth to reveal a very wide smile. Ino could only gasp and let her mouth hang open in shock.

"DAMMIT!" She closed her eyes and made a fuss. "So what if I still like him, it was his idea to see other people that bastard!" The kunoichi continued on their girl talk moving into the cabins hoping to talk more privately. While the fighter boys had moved closer to the edge of the deck and were now looking over the ship trying to figure out where they were going as they were heading inward as if to another country.

"It looks like we're heading deep into the mountains but there aren't any villages I know of up there." Neji was puzzled by the ships movements

"The snow village is up there" Sasuke replied remembering his encounter with the snow village a while back.

"That's right I guess that's where we're going." Lee responded for Neji.Going unoticedbehind them Tenten was having a heart to heart with Kurenai about a personal matter.

"I don't know sensei. Sometimes I just think he's not interested." Tenten was having doubts about Neji's feelings about her, for a while he had seemed to like her but when Sasuke got back he seemed more occupied with trying to outmatch Sasuke then expand her relationship with him.

"Oh of course he does, he's just a guy and guys are like that, but if you get him hooked around your finger he won't be like that much, it's the way they are when they're wild and unattached to a woman yet." Kurenai had some experience with mean in particular a certain black haired Jounin who just loved to smoke. Tenten meanwhile chuckled to herself at her sensei's old fashioned approach to men.

"Yeah but recently there hasn't been much of an ice breaker that got his attention long enough" Tenten was once again slightly disgruntled

"I can fix that" she handed Tenten three key cards. "those are your's Neji's and Lee's keycards go deliver them but let me make the suggestion of holding onto Neji's till her agrees you meet you sometime private." Kurenai gave her a wink and walked off having completed her assignment and given a little girl to girl advice. Tenten blushed at the thought of being alone with Neji. She quickly walked up to the boys and tapped Neji and Lee on the shoulder.

"Hey guys, you'll probably need these, they're our key cards to the rooms we'll be staying in" she motioned towards a cabin that was small and seemed more like a stairwell. "so I thought you'd like them" she handed Lee his card and started to give Neji his but snatched it back before he could take it.

"What's the deal Tenten?" Neji was confused by her actions.

"You have to promise me something, before you get this." Tenten gave him a smirk.

"What do you want?" Neji was used the Tenten's jokes and was ready to hear something stupid like bark like a dog or call me master while bowing.

"I want you too promise to meet me tonight outside up their." She pointed towards a spot in teh rails were their was a a pole and a wind sock. Neji was surprised at the request and simply gave her a nod his face showing an expression of confusion. "Okay then I'll see you there, you get you key card only if you remember to show up." She leaned in and gave him a wink she wasn't taking any chances. With that she left the boys confused and slightly suspicious about what was going on.

"Heh, good work Neji." Sasuke was complementing Neji on finally getting Tenten.

"What but i didn't, I don't even know whats going on!" Neji was in denial and not the river the feeling. He knew Tenten liked him and he knew he liked her back but weather or not he could act on these feelings was another story entirely.

"Ahh don't play that game Neji, You know exactly what's going on." Lee was very impressed and nodding his head in agreement with Sasuke that Neji was defintly on smooth guy. "Come on Sasuke lets leave lover boy to think." With that Lee and Sasuke left Neji more confused than he was 10 seconds ago. They went off in the direction of some construction, it seemed some people were setting somthing up for later tonight. Sasuke nudged Lee and pointed off to the side at what seemed like Shikamaru talking alone with Temari but her brothers were off to the side.

"So how about we meet later?" Temari was getting suspicious and teasing looks from her brothers and she really felt embarrassed.

"That's fine, I can see your brothers are making you uncomfortable." Shikamaru was being considerate and was about to walk away forgetting something "Oh, where are we meeting?"

"Just wait outside somewhere I can find you okay?" Temari had started to walk away cause she was feeling even more embarrassed by the second and she knew when she got back to her brothers Kankurou would tease her while Gaara just chuckled to himself. Because, right before Shikamaru had shown up, she had respectably said she had no interest in Shikamaru trying to get them off her backs as she searched for him.

"Okay" Shikamaru quickly started to walk off then turned when he almost forgot something again. "Oh wait…what time?"

"Just meet me later when everybody's asleep okay!" Temari was frustrated and blushed heavily as she just wanted to pound her brothers when she heard a loud ooooooooohhhhh from Kankurou and turned to see Gaara laughing. "God damn it don't make me hurt you two!" she gave them a menacing glare but they just laughed it off. Shikamaru was happy now and went off to find a place he could sit and look at the clouds as they were nice and high up so he could see them so much more clearly now. Meanwhile Naruto and Hinata had just finished up preparing something special for later that night.

"See Hinata now later tonight I can just knock right here and you can activate this seal and I'll be able to come in through here." He walked through his handiwork he had made a doorway in between their adjacent rooms and was planning on visiting her that night when they could talk more privately and spend the whole night together.

"Hmmm Naruto-kun this is nice, but what do you plan on doing if I don't let you in?" Hinata wanted to start a little foreplay because she really wanted Naruto to stop fussing over later and start fussing over now, so she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss then walked onto the other side of the doorway into her room.

"Well, whatever you want. I'm guessing you have something in mind" Naruto had caught on fast and was already starting to feel the tension melt away.

"Oh yeah I have something planned, but for now...that won't have to happen if you just do something for me." Hinata was teasing him now.

"Anything" Naruto gave her a smile she couldn't resist any longer. She giggled then said

"Come here you" She grabbed him by the collar with one hand and dragged him into her room, turning around and sealing up the doorway behind him. "OH NARUTO-KUN!"

Authors note: Okay. I have revised said chapter. Still a nice little cliffhanger at the end and still pretty good plot with all the characters.


	3. Realtionships

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Naruto I am simply borrowing them to create a story of my own, each and all of the characters (excluding OC's that shall be introduced later) are owned by someone else.

Authors note: I'd like to take a second before we start chapter three and say that I'm very grateful for all your support and that I'm really starting to feel this story out a lot better than when I started and I'm starting to get the direction I want it to go in, but I want all of you to review with suggestions and stuff you want to see as it really helps when someone encourages what your doing or says something that sparks an idea for a new plot twist.

**Trials of the Shinobi**

A Naruto Fan-Fiction

By Dark-Angel-Cronos

Part 1: A New Mission and a New Country

Chapter 3: Relationships.

Aboard the airship it was starting to get later in the day, the crew had announced they would be stopping for only three moreboardings and then we would be at the tournament site within the next few days depending on weather and how long it takes to load up the remaining villages. The guests on the ship were not complaining though it had turned into a relatively awesome time after the sun started to set a band that almost every village in the world had heard of came out and set up a stage.While all this was going on Naruto and the gang had made arrangements for several relationship breaking encounters except for two young girls who were having a very interesting discussion about boys.

"Sakura I just can't pick, should I go after Shikamaru or Chouji?" Ino was perplexed by this puzzling predicament and had turned to her friend for answers.

"I don't know Ino, what does your heart say you should do?" Sakura was slightly annoyed that her best friend was so fickle when it came to romance. Ino moved from her leaning position to the closet doors and opened them.

"It says I should go after someone else, but I know he's not interested." Ino's voice wasn't loud like she had been before it was soft and almost a whisper but Sakura had heard it.

"You mean neither of these boys are your true affection." Sakura's interest had been sparked. Ino had always been either with Chouji or with Shikamaru, or at least after them. She had never heard of this mystery third man till now and she wanted to know more. "Who is he? What's he like? Why go after Chouji and Shikamaru if you like this other guy?" Sakura was full of questions today.

"It's no one Sakura, but I can tell you he's like Shikamaru in some ways and like Sasuke in others." Ino was rummaging through her closet looking for something to wear, the ship hadn't allowed any of the nin boarding the ship time to pack clothes but they had basically given each room a closet that was pretty close to a shopping mall full of clothes depending on the persons size and gender it was strange how they knew so much about the nin but they hadn't known who would be boarding till they arrived. It was like they could read their minds.

"Sasuke, when did he come into the picture?" Sakura had a deep heart filled crush on the Sasuke that Ino once shared but Ino had said that she was over him now.

"Oh, I'm just using him as reference. The guy I like is rather serious when he needs be like Shikamaru and doesn't smile too much, but he's also like Sasuke that he's strong and resourceful." Ino pulled out two nice Kimonos and held them up for Sakura to judge.

One had a lovely flower print and was a very deep emerald green, it was very elegant and yet the texture gave off a simple nature. It had a very lovely gem studded butterfly broach to go with as the buttons were simple lady bugs that had a single stud each. The second kimono was white and it had a smooth and silky texture like a cloud. It had a sky blue border and trim so it had a very nice appeal but their was less flash and glamour with this one as it didn't have gem studded buttons but the nice border and trim made up for it. "Which one?" Ino asked pondering it herself

"Neither are really your style Ino" Sakura was surprised the kimonos were very formal and not something you'd wear to pool party but then again they had been promised fireworks after the band was done so they were good Kimono's to impress a guy with as they'd show off quite a few curves. "Let me guess, the white ones for Shikamaru and the other ones for your mystery man? Since I don't think either one would impress Chouji" Sakura had figured out Ino's plan and had already started formulating her own to nab Sasuke.

"You read me like a book, I have one for Chouji but I don't think I'm too interested in Chouji since you brought up Shino" Ino was admiring the green kimono then gasped as she realized she had said his name.

"OH MY GOD! Shino's the mystery man!" Sakura was shocked, Shino was nice but not at all what she had expected from Ino, then she thought, 'he is a lot like Sasuke and Shikamaru in his own way it must be why she's so attracted to him.' "Ino, Shino's a really nice guy, why didn't you just tell me that it was him?"

"Because I don't think he likes me!" Ino was pouting now she had set the kimonos down and plopped on the bed next to Sakura. "If I had some indication I even had a chance with him I'd go for it but I don't think I do."

"OH of course you do, come on put on the green kimono and I'll help you with your makeup and hair. We'll get you so dolled up Shino won't be able to resist. You'll be the flower that Shino's "bees" just can't resist" Sakura gave Ino a wink and got up Ino getting up with her.

"Thanks Sakura" Ino was glad she had a friend like Sakura to help her out.

"No problem, after all the times you helped me I deserve to get my chance to help you" Sakura gave Ino a smile and began picking out makeup that would go well with the kimono as well as a very nice Lotus comb to put in Ino's hair.

Meanwhile Neji was waiting outside on the edge of the deck with Shino and Kiba for Tenten as he needed some guy advice as to what Tenten was playing at.

"What do you guys think she wants to come out and talk about, she's been acting really weird lately." Neji was concerned he had always been close to Tenten and she hadn't been acting normal lately he wondered if she was alright.

"It's obvious that he's clueless, wouldn't you agree Shino" Kiba had already figured Tenten had a thing for Neji and was surprised that Neji had called them both out their to talk to him about just this.

"Yes it is. Neji this isn't all you called us out to talk about is it?" Shino was surprised that someone as intelligent as Neji hadn't realized that Tenten liked him.

"What do you guys mean? I seriously don't see what she could want to talk about." Neji was a genius, but rather dense in the affairs of love. "I mean, I can guess, but she wouldn't, oh she would" Neji came to a quick realization as both Shino and Kiba gave him disbelieving glares.

"Let me give you some advice, don't be your usual dense self" Shino started to walk away and gave Neji a little pat on the back for encouragement.

"Yeah, and good luck, also may I suggest you complement her kimono it's rather nice" Kiba walked away as well, Neji was confused by Kiba's comment then slapped his head for being dense.

"Hey there Tenten" Neji turned and sure enough there was Tenten but what he saw her in was not something he had expected.

She had a long formal Kimono on; it was a slimming black and had gold trim and buttons, above her right breast was a the start of a golden flower pattern that traced just down the seam of the Kimono and was also accented on the sash. On her and to Neji this kimono made her look unbelievably beautiful. To add to the appeal she had done her hair up into two tight buns like usual but she had used two gold ribbons that made them more apparent and she had applied a small amount of makeup that made her face shine out more especially since she wasn't wearing her headband.

"What do you think" She gave him a smile and spun around to give her kimono a little bit of an affect. "Too flashy?" She was worried he wouldn't like it.

"What, oh no, not flashy at all. I think you look beautiful in it." Neji was still a little shocked and wasn't paying attention to what he was saying.

"Oh Neji you charmer" she giggled "I really don't think I look that good but if you say so." She blushed and gave him a smile.

"Oh you do, stunning, umm anyway. What did you want to talk about?" Neji was trying to take his mind off her body and back onto what was puzzling him. He turned around so he wouldn't ogle anymore.

"Well," she moved next to him before speaking again. "Just some stuff" She leaned out over the rail and looked over at him. "Like what do you think of me?" Neji was speechless, he had expected a question like this but now he had no answer.

"Umm, I think you're a beautiful, strong, kunoichi and a very good teammate." Neji was trying to use a simple response and avoid his feelings.

"Hmmm let's rephrase that question. What do you feel towards me? Am I like a sister or a close friend or maybe something else?" Tenten knew if she was going to get him to be with her she had to press the issue.

"Well, we've been teammates for a long time and we've been close friends even longer, so in a way you are like a sister too me," Tenten's heart sank at his awful start at expressing himself, 'A sister, but I don't want to be his sister I want to be his lover' her mind was screaming for him to hear her and when he spoke again she thought he had. "But you're not like a sister at all. There's something else there, that makes me like you, want to be with you, you're more like a…a… person I want to…to…umm" Neji had lost his ability to speak at the thought of the next word he just couldn't find out how to say it.

"Like a lover, a person you want to love?" Tenten finished his sentence hoping she was right.

"Yeah" Neji turned away for a second; fearful of what she might think about what he had said.

"Well that's good, because that's the way I think of you" Tenten's heart soared as she finally knew he loved her back. She leaned over to him wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing herself to his back moving close so she could whisper in his ear. "I love you Neji, tell me you love me too and just hold me. Please." She felt a tear in her eye she was happy because she knew he'd say it back and yet she still felt like she was begging him to say it. Neji turned forcing Tenten to release him, but he immediately wrapped his arms around her and laid his head on her shoulder holding her close.

"I love you Tenten, and of course I'll hold you." Neji's tone wasn't its usual instructive and disciplined manner it was softer and more affectionate, but not false, Tenten could tell he meant every word as he held her close. "Let's go, somewhere we can talk." He moved away enough to see her face and that she had watery eyes like she was about to cry.

"What's wrong Tenten?" He leaned in and gave her a peck on the lips for encouragement "Come on don't cry everything's alright." He took her back in his arms this time letting her rest her head underneath his chin.

"Neji, I…I'm sorry for crying I'm just happy you love me." Tenten laced her fingers in his hands and pulled away. "Come on I know a good place."

"You do, what place is that?" Neji was wondering where he'd be taken. Tenten simply smiled and held up his keycard and hers and gave him a wink.

"Your place or mine" she grabbed his hand was about to pull him off for the cabins but he pulled back and they stopped. "What's wrong?" Tenten though she might have been too quick to get him in bed.

"Let's not tonight okay Tenten?" Neji leaned in and gave her a kiss. "you got all dressed up for me I wouldn't want it to go to waste, lets go join the party then watch the fireworks, maybe after that we can have a little fun" Neji gave her his best seductive smile which was a real good on at least in Tenten's eyes. She nodded and they headed off to the party together.

While our two love birds had their choice rendezvous, our two girls were planning somthing for Hinata but she wasn't coming to the door.

"HINATA-CHAN!" Ino yelled at the door "Open up we wanna help you get ready for the party on the deck." Inside the room Hinata was stumbling around desperately trying to find her bra.

"Naruto-kun hide, I don't want the girls to know yet." Hinata was begging him to hide. "Please Naruto-kun hurry up and hide and get your jacket off that chair they might notice it." Naruto was moving rather slowly picking up his clothes to annoy Hinata, the girls had rudely interrupted them before anything could start and he was slightly annoyed that Hinata hadn't played it smooth and ignored them like he had. "I'll be right there guys just hold on, Naruto-kun hurry" Hinata was afraid the others might push the door down in concern.

"Hina-chan I don't see why I need to rush so what if they find us we can just tell them, I mean they'll probably figure it out anyway." Naruto had given up trying to keep Hinata and his relationship a secret when the girls had come knocking at the door.

"Just go back to your room use the passage you made." Hinata had found her underwear stuffed up under the bed and was now trying to get the clasp on. "Naru-kun help me!" She turned around and held the straps in place he moved over and clasped them together

"Hina-chan I told you I can't go back through because you weren't supposed to seal it up like that." Naruto had finished gathering all his clothes and was now watching his girlfriend jumble about to find something to put on over her self to avoid walking out in panties and a bra.

"OOOOOO then get in the closet and hide" She ran over and started pushing him over to the clothes closet.

"The closet! but..." Naruto began toprotest but Hinata wouldn't have it she quickly pushed him inside the closet then shut the door. Then opened it took his white shirt from the pile of clothes in his hand and shut the door again.

"I'm coming" Hinata threw his shirt on and walked to the door opening it and seeing both of the girls dressed in formal kimono's, Ino in a emerald green with a flower print and studded broach and buttons, while Sakura's was a navy blue kimono decorated with a lunar sky like print that was relatively tight and accented her curves as well she had her pink hair tied into a long braid, she had grown it out again recently. "What's the occasion?" Hinata was finding it strange that her friends would dress up for a informal party.

"There's gonna be a firework show after the party and we wanted to nab some guys and have them be our, um dates of sort" Sakura said with a wide grin thinking of her Sasuke and his reaction to her kimono.

"Yeah and we came over to help you find one that'll have that Naruto-kun of yours following you around like a sad puppy" Ino gave Hinata a wink and with that the girls stormed the room plopping Hinata on the bed and then moving towards the closest to look for a Kimono for her. Hinata jumped up trying to stop them.

"NO WAIT DON'T OPEN!" but it was too late Sakura and Ino had opened the closet to reveal a semi naked Naruto. Stripped to his boxers with a pile of clothes in his hands, his eyes closed andhe waspraying they wouldn't open the door. He couldn't blend into the environment cause his clothes would still be there and he would have made too much noise if he had tried to put them back on. Hinata sunk her head into her hands. "Oh no" Hinata sighed. Ino and Sakura stood stunned looking at Naruto as he gave them a sheepish smile.

"Uh hi girls, fancy meeting you here. Eh heh" Naruto gave them his most innocent smile he could. Sakura looked like she was going to blow her top so Naruto quickly excused himself running past them both giving Hinata a kiss on the cheek and running for the hills out the door. Sakura stood there with an angry look in her face that usually meant she was going explode on somebody, but soon the anger turned into a smile and she began laughing, laughing a lot before she was on the floor and holding her sides. Ino smiled and then nodded at Hinata saying everything's okay. Hinata was relieved they understood.

"Come on Hinata; let's get you fixed up for that idiot lover of yours." Sakura was recovering from her fit of laughter long enough to speak and so the girls went to work beautifying Hinata for the night to come.

Speaking of that night, we're gonna jump ahead a bit to Shikamaru and Temari.It was almost dark out and something interesting had caught the attention of Shikamaru, he was sitting up top one of the towers that had a propeller on it there was a platform pretty far below it and during the day it was perfect for cloud gazing. They had landed well stopped moving and were close to a cliff now and a lot of Nin were boarding the ship. From what he could see there were 4 different villages boarding all at the same time. Each with a headband he had never seen before, one headband he was pretty sure he could guess the name of the village was one with two fireballs, while the others were confusing. Two headbands looked almost interchangeable as they had a Yin or a Yang symbol on them depending on which edge top or bottom the symbol was on. The last was the most confusing of all it was what looked like a symbol for a water village like the wave but it was different impressed behind it was the symbol for chakra an oddly shaped swirl. With the wave print pressed over it, Shikamaru could only guess it was some spiritual country but it was the oddest symbol he had ever seen.  
"Strangest things I've ever seen." Shikamaru was whispering to himself when he was suddenly but pleasantly surprised by a tap on his shoulder. Atop a flying fan sat the beautiful Temari, the one who he had been waiting for atop the tower. She hadn't dressed up for the party like some of the other girls had but she was still as beautiful as ever to Shikamaru. "Temari, glad you could come I've wanted to talk to you all day."

"I have too Shika-kun" Temari hopped off her fan landing next to him quickly putting her fan away. "What is it you wanted to say?"

"No umm you can go first if you want." Shikamaru never found Temari as troublesome as Ino or the others he didn't really care if she went first.

"Oh umm okay; Shika-kun I was thinking about a few years ago, when you came on that diplomacy mission to the sand village to help with the rebel sand tribes outside the village." Temari was thinking back at all the time they had shared while he had been there that year. "And I was wondering…do you want to, be together like we were. I know we said that it couldn't last since we lived so far apart but Shika-kun I've thought about you everyday since you left,I just can't get you out of my mind.." She hugged him she didn't want to hold it in any longer.

"Temari, I know" He hugged her back. "I've felt the same way, I'm just glad I didn't have to speak, it was less troublesome that you said it first. But I do have something to say." He pulled away slightly and lifted her head from his chest so she could look at him. "You're very special to me Temari and I want to be with you forever, I love you Temari-Chan" He had used a pet name he hadn't used since they had to leave each other after his mission was over. It felt good to say it again. "You're the wind that gives life, I don't think I could live without you" Shikamaru cared about no one like he did Temari and to anyone else these words coming from his mouth would seem strange but Temari had heard them from him before, she was used to him opening up to her cause she knew he rarely did with anyone else.

"And you're the shadow that's tied to me forever as long as I move like the wind." She leaned in to kiss him but was interrupted.

The tower had begun to shake like an earthquake had hit. Temari felt herself slid her clothes were sliding under the slick metal and she would fall if she didn't do something soon. She reached out to hang on and was met by Shikamaru's hand which had reached out and grabbed her. He pulled her onto his lap. She held him fast; he had pulled two kunai out and used them to brace himself and her so they wouldn't fall using them like stoppers pushing them through their clothes and into the metal. After they were in place he held her close and they prayed for the shaking to stop. When the shaking had ceased the looked over the edge to see what had happened. The saw a horror stricken, Lee was lying against the cabin badly injured with Neji and Tenten looking over his wounds. He had been removed from the fray as there was a battle going on! Sakura and the others were all surrounding the scene as Sasuke had squared off with a young Kunoichi bearing the double fireball headband, about to engage each other again both of them rushed each other, Sasuke had charged a fierce chidori into his right palm and she was simply rushing him her eyes seemed to glow slightly. It seemed the girl had the upper hand as Sasuke was visibly bleeding and, who seemed to be the Kunoichi's leader standing within the ring of spectators, was speaking to her, Shikamaru didn't hear the words but he read his lips his face filled with fear at what was going to happen.

Authors note: Alright chapter 3 has been edited...i actually realise now taht this chapter is actually pretty good..nothing really needs to be changed. which is strange cause i always hated this chapter i felt it was scrunched up and tossed around alot but i guess it really wasn't anyway i changed some stuff. Hope you all liked it.


	4. Confrontation

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Naruto I am simply borrowing them to create a story of my own, each and all of the characters (excluding OC's that shall be introduced later) are owned by someone else. As well I do not own any of the songs portrayed in this Fanfiction.

Authors note: Come on people, Reviews are what give me the motivation to move on with the next chapter, Sorry if I seem demanding, I think I'm getting a little review hungry lol. This next chapter is mostly action but theirs a little romance in the beginning not to much just fluffy stuff, also if you really want to get a feel for how I wrote this pay attention to the song titles and the names of bands playing. Listen to their music while reading the passage in which they play slowly so that the story seems to flow a little with the music. It's really rather interesting and I took the time to pick out certain songs for certain scenes that fit pretty well, although I probably could have found better ones if I would take the time but I was trying to get this out as soon as possible for my fans. As well the italicized words are song lyrics that are playing as the scene progresses.

**Trials of the Shinobi**

A Naruto Fan-Fiction

By Dark-Angel-Cronos

Part 1: A New Mission and a New Country

Chapter 4: Confrontation.

We left the last chapter at a cliff hanger between Sasuke and an unknown kunoichi from a still unknown village, but we're not going to start their as we need to jump back a few hours to the party and what Sasuke, Shino, Kiba, Neji, Tenten, and the others are doing. The party was really lively now Nin from almost every village we're crowding around the stage screaming for the band. The band was simple, and they played songs from different artists like they were the real artists. With a two lead guitarists ,a female and a male, as vocalists they were able to play songs sung by both genders, as well a backup synthesizer keyboard, bass player, and awesome drummer let them put trance dance music out for people who wanted to dance and rock songs for those who wanted to just relax. It was truly a party to be remembered by all the Nin for a while.  
"The music's nice yea" Sasuke was leaning against a wall listening to the band plays Holiday by Green Day. Neji and Tenten were somewhere out on the dance floor dancing to the music. Shino and Kiba were standing with Sasuke.

"Yea Akamaru likes it" Kiba was watching his hound wag his tail while he lied down and closed his eyes listening to the music peacefully.

"Eh it's alright I suppose, not really my style of music." Shino had placed his hood back over his head and wasn't really paying attention. Naruto had come down after changing into a clean jumpsuit and went to go stand with the others.

"Hey Kiba," Naruto walked over and gave Akamaru then looked up at Sasuke and Shino both seeming relatively relaxed "Hey you two" Naruto walked up and started to give them both a slight punch to the ribs. "A ninja never lets his guard down even for a second" Sasuke and Shino were quick and caught Naruto's punches. Then giving each other a slight signal they threw Naruto the ground.

"Yeah good job remembering that Naruto," Sasuke had returned to his spot closing his eyes.

", but it's better to practice what you preach then to preach something to be practiced." Shino finished what Sasuke had begun to say and returned himself to his spot as well.

"Right, ugh" Naruto had stood up rubbing his back they had been able to throw him pretty hard and he had landed on his spine it hurt a little. "Yea didn't have to throw me though." Naruto got up and pulled a chair from a nearby table, and spent a few minutes talking with the boys before they had an eerie feeling of perfect timing, the band had switched to a mixed version of "Tangled Up in Me" by Skye Sweetnam just moments before.

'_You wanna know more, more, more about me'  
'You think that you know me"_

'_You think that I'm only'  
'When everything I do is only to get tangled up in you'  
'You wanna know more, more, more about me'  
'I'm the girl that's sweeping you off your feet'_

Naruto was the first to notice as he alerted the others. "Guys look!" Naruto exclaimed pointing in the direction of the stairwell coming up from the cabins were Sakura, Hinata, and Ino all dressed in knock out kimono's that had been fitted to tightly wrap around their figure. All of the boys except Sasuke and Shino of course had to let their jaws drop a little Tenten had given the girls two thumbs up for an outstanding entrance as the girls entered flaunting it very well. Sakura in her blue sky kimono headed straight for Sasuke who had grown a little red in the cheeks as he noticed she was coming towards him. Ino had moved slightly more towards Shino who was surprised that he had felt the heat rush to his cheeks when he saw her, to him she had gone from someone he knew and talked to from time to time to a bomb shell. Hinata had taken a little more hesitation in her step and walked towards Naruto, she was a little embarrassed at how much her kimono stuck out against everyone else. It was a stunning scarlet red and was very festive with long fire designs down the seams and across the sash. The front however depicted a fox whose tail swished around and made a spiral just under her breasts. Naruto was nearly speechless as all he could mutter out was "Hinata-Chan, beautiful" weather or not his in articulation was intentional or by way of embarrassment it still made Hinata blush a shade of red that accented her kimono. Ino had moved close to Shino by now and was nervously playing with her sash.

"Hey umm, Shino do you umm, I wanna talk to you about something, do you mind if we move somewhere more private?" Ino closed her eyes tight she was so very afraid that he'd just shrug her off.

"Sure, we can do that." Shino was nervous he had waited a while but he final felt he might be ready to try and have a relationship and he had always admired Ino, so now he was going to go for it. Ino was shocked at his response, and before she could say anything he took her hand and led her around to the side of the ship. They briefly passed Sakura who noticed and gave Ino the thumbs up as Ino gave it back.

"Wow they sure are heading off in a hurry." Sakura was trying to get Sasuke to loosen up, he had raised his collar higher so she couldn't see his mouth but his cheeks were still red and Sakura knew it.

"I suppose," Sasuke wasn't in the mood to talk. He really just wanted to relax but Sakura was making him nervous.

"Sasuke you don't have to be so shy." Sakura looked at his face for a response but got none, 'so that's how you wanna play then'.

"What do you think of my kimono, I picked it out just to wear for tonight." She gave him a little spin and pretended to slip and fell on Sasuke. "Whoops" Sasuke had caught her before she hit him his hands grabbing at her waist and the other on her failing arm that would have hit the wall if she had fallen.

"Hey, Sakura-Chan, try not to be such a klutz for once." Naruto had noticed Sakura's fall and yelled out all in good humor, but all it really did was put a laughing grin on everybody's face including Sasuke and make Sakura angry.

"NARUTO!" Sakura had moved over and clonked him on the head. Naruto fell back on his back rubbing his head while Hinata could only gasp and cover her mouth to hold back her laughter.

"What did I do?" Naruto got up slowly only to fall back over laughing. Sasuke, Sakura, and Hinata were stirred slightly as they turned the direction Naruto had started pointing. Kiba had already looked and was holding his rib in his laughter. Sakura and Hinata began laughing while Sasuke laughed to himself as they saw Lee and Gai-sensei coming towards them in the most ridiculous getup ever seen. Lee and Gai came in wearing green spandex tights along with matching spandex top and hats that resembled a traditional French chef's hat only black and with what looked like a platter atop it.

"Fuzzy-brow, Gai-sensei. Why the hell are you wearing that for?" Naruto could barely speak his eyes were starting to tear up form all the laughter and he still had to laugh.

"Do not insult us we are wearing the proper accoutrements suited for this time of celebration and merry making!" Gai stood proud with his pupil both of them standing firm with their shining smiles and, and together looked a lot like a pair of ballerina's ready for their rendition of the forest is alive. Lee had already moved quickly to Sakura's side and was hitting on her.

"Sakura-Chan you are a vision of loveliness as always, why your beauty could only be compared to the stars in the sky." Lee was laying it on thick but no matter what he did Sakura couldn't contain her giggling at his outfit.

"That's sweet Lee but maybe you should try again once you find a sense of fashion." Sakura had moved away from Lee leaving him distraught and crushed. The group continued their talks and stuff while the band played their music switching to the Michelle Branch song "Everywhere" and with that we check on what's going on with Shino and Ino.

Shino was leaning against the rail his back turned towards the outward sky and his face looking up. Ino was leaning over the rail looking at the ground below she could see the lights of a Village they'd be their in a few moments to pick up new Nin she wondered if they would stop the concert. Ino stirred when she heard "Everywhere" come on over the speakers and thought that now may have been the best time to say it.

'_Just tell me how I got this far '  
'Just tell me why you're here and who you are'  
'Cause every time I look'  
'You're never there'  
'And every time I sleep'  
'You're always there' _

'Cause you're everywhere to me'  
'And when I close my eyes it's you I see'

'_You're everything I know '  
'That makes me believe '  
'I'm not alone '  
'I'm not alone'_

"Shino, I wanted to ask you something." Ino was blushing badly she had never had this problem around boys before but there was something about Shino, he intimidated her and he made her feel like she would just melt from looking in his eyes.

"What is it Ino-Chan" Shino had never used the chan at the end of her name but he felt it might be appropriate to use it now that they were alone.

"Uh," Ino had lost her voice; he had never called her using a pet name like Ino-Chan before so she was slightly shocked. "I wanted to ask; if…you liked…my kimono!" Ino had backed out in the last moment but she wasn't too mad at herself, Shino looked at her a little bit in disbelief. She spun around trying to hide her lying face.

"Yes, its very nice especially the way the green brings out your eyes, green and blue mix so well." Shino had moved over and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ino I know what you want to ask me; and the answer is I don't really know." Shino was starting to have second thoughts as well. He wasn't sure if he could be with Ino but he defiantly wanted to try.

"Huh, what do you mean I asked you what I wanted to ask you?" Ino was lying trying to avoid the situation. She was scared now, she had though from his reaction to her dress he might have liked her but now she was unsure.

"You don't have to lie, and you didn't let me finish." Shino turned her around and took down his hood and removed his glasses he wanted to look her in the eyes. "Ino, I don't know if I really like you yet. But you're working on me really well, and I'd like to at least give it a try." Shino's eyes spoke wonders to Ino she could see all the kindness and love he had in his heart that he had so cleverly hidden behind those glasses.

"Really?" Ino's voice was much more definite now and she had looked him back in the eyes. The music had changed to a trance song by Cascada; Ino knew it well it was "Everytime We Touch" It had sparked an idea in her head. "Shino lets go dance!"

"huh what but I'm not much of a" Shino didn't get a chance to say any more as she had started to drag him back to the crowd she could see Hinata and Naruto dancing in crowd they were surrounded by people who had given them space. They were dancing to the music and its lyrics perfectly.

'_I still hear your voice, when you sleep next to me.  
'I still feel your touch in my dreams.  
'Forgive me my weakness, but I don't know why.  
'Without you it's hard to survive. _

'Cause everytime we touch, I get this feeling.  
'And everytime we kiss I swear I could fly.  
'Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I want this to last.  
'Need you by my side.'  
'Cause everytime we touch, I feel this static.'  
'And everytime we kiss, I reach for the sky.'  
'Can't you hear my heart beat so...'  
'I can't let you go.'  
'Want you in my life.'

'Your arms are my castle, your heart is my sky.'  
'They wipe away tears that I cry.'  
'The good and the bad times, we've been through them all.'  
'You make me rise when I fall.'

'Cause everytime we touch, I get this feeling.'  
'And everytime we kiss I swear I could fly.'  
'Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I want this to last.'  
'Need you by my side.'  
'Cause everytime we touch, I feel this static.'  
'And everytime we kiss, I reach for the sky.'  
'Can't you hear my heart beat so...'  
'I can't let you go'.  
'Want you in my life'.

'Cause everytime we touch, I get this feeling'  
'And everytime we kiss I swear I could fly.'  
'Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I want this to last.'  
'Need you by my side.'

Ino and Shino had joined the crowd and watched the two lovers dance. Shino was reluctant to dance so Shino didn't make him but he didn't mind wrapping his arm around Ino's waste as they watched which kept Ino happy. As well Sakura was trying to get Sasuke to dance while fending off Lee who was still pawing at Sakura like a dog to a bone. Sasuke however refused to dance as well Sakura refused to dance with Lee. The two on the dance floor exchanged quick glances leading off each other, dancing circles around any other couple that came in and joined them. When the song was over everybody was clapping and Hinata was holding onto Naruto for her breath was gone. The ship suddenly jerked and everybody was thrown slightly to one side or another they had stopped and we're letting on new passengers. The band had decided to take a break and all the others had found a rather large table and some chairs and were taking a break as well.

"OMG HINATA THAT WAS AMAZING" Sakura was very impressed as was Ino and Tenten by Hinata's performance.

"Where did you learn to dance like that Hinata?" Ino was very interested in how Hinata had become such a good dancer.

"More importantly where did Naruto learn to dance like that" Sasuke was teasing Naruto "Well Naruto where did you learn to do that?"

"Huh?" Naruto wasn't really paying attention "I don't know I just picked it up." Naruto had really gone through special Taijutsu training with Kakashi and Gai sensei a few years back that involved incorporating dance moves as the rhythm of dance can easily be applied to Taijutsu.

"Sure yea did Naruto" Sasuke wasn't believing a word he said. While the others were more interested in the new ninja who had come aboard. As well they were interested in them. Two ninja had begun to come over to them their teams following. The leaders leading the ninja stood back and watched with amusement in their faces. The two groups of ninja wore two different headbands. One was that of twin fireballs, the nin bearing this symbol were all kunoichi and wearing rather distinctive black gear, while the other group were all male nin with a different symbol theirs was that of what looked like a wave you would see on a water villages headband, but it was different impressed under it was the symbol for chakra a spiral. The group leader of the Kunoichi's had long brown hair but the tips were died black. Her eyes were a blue that seemed very familiar to everyone it resembled Sasuke's but was lighter and slightly less focused. Her outfit stood out amongst the plain black gear as hers was special the flack jacket wasn't their instead she wore a black shirt with no sleeves, on back was a print of a windmill Shurikin, the blades red like fire and the center white like thunder. The male's group leader was rather slender but his body was toned, He had no shirt but wore flak jacket non the less. His pants were styled and had a strange print around the bottoms. His black hair was cut short with blonde tips and was slicked up to strand rather straight, his eyes were brown and soft but his stare was prideful and his smile wicked in amusement.

"Hello, my names Kazuma Watari of the village hidden within, and if I may be so bold as to ask a question, Which one of you is Rock Lee the Taijutsu master of Konoha" The male nin leading the spiral symbol group had placed his hand on the table almost as if it were a threat.

"As well I'm looking for the legendary Sasuke Uchiha from Konoha, My name is Michiyo Nakamura of the village hidden beneath the flame." The Flame Kunoichi didn't move but her two teammates along with Kazuma's teammates had surrounded the table. Sasuke and Lee stood from their positions, Lee speaking first.

"I am Rock Lee, what do you wish of me?" Lee was still in his very formal attire.

"and I'm Sasuke and I would like to ask the same thing." Sasuke had a glare in his eye at the two strangers the others had taken up their guard incase they tried anything but as soon as Sasuke and Lee were done speaking the other nin moved away and back behind their leaders.

"We're here to issue you two a challenge." The Kunoichi began, "My challenge is for Sasuke. It is a challenge to test your Sharingan against my mastery of Fire based jutsu. Every jutsu I do you have to copy and enhance it using your legendary Sharingan" She stepped back and let Kazuma speak now.

"and I'm here to issue a challenge to Lee. My challenge is a test of strength. We'll match each other in Taijutsu exchanging connecting blows. Whoever falters first is the loser." Kazuma stepped back a step and waited for a response. Sasuke and Lee had no hesitation in their voice as they said in unison.

"I accept your challenge." The others had stood and moved behind Sasuke and Lee afraid they might get caught in the middle if the two challengers were aggressive and started the fight here.

"Excellent, lets go off to the side a bit were we won't disturb the festivities" the kunoichi motioned her head towards crowd that had surround the stage once more the band had come back and were about to start playing again.

"Agreed" All three of the boys had said it in unison and the four disappeared with ninja like speed off to the side of the ship the others following suit. Once they were slightly out of sight the nin surrounded the four challengers so that there was a sort of ring type boundary. Everybody was waiting for them to start when the band suddenly came to be heard and the matches had begun. The band was playing "Lets Get it Started" by Black Eyed Peas to start their concert back up but it seemed even more appropriate as the four challengers fought each other.

'_Let's Get It Started, in here... _

'And the base keep runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin', and 'runnin' runnin', and'  
'runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin', and runnin' runnin', and...'

'In this context, there's no disrespect, so, when I bust my rhyme, you break your 'necks.'  
'We got five minutes for us to disconnect, from all intellect collect the rhythm effect.'  
'Obstacles are inefficient, follow your intuition, free your inner soul and break away 'from tradition.'  
'Coz when we beat out, girl it's pullin without.'  
'You wouldn't believe how we wow shit out.'  
'Burn it till it's burned out.'  
'Turn it till it's turned out.'  
'Act up from north, west, east, south.'

_  
'Everybody, everybody, let's get into it.'  
'Get stupid.'  
'Get it started, get it started, get it started.'  
'Let's get it started (ha), let's get it started in here.'  
'Let's get it started (ha), let's get it started in here.'  
'Let's get it started (ha), let's get it started in here.'  
'Let's get it started (ha), let's get it started in here.'  
'Yeah.' _

'Lose control, of body and soul.'  
'Don't move too fast, people, just take it slow.'  
'Don't get ahead, just jump into it.'  
'Ya'll hear about it, the Peas'll do it.'  
'Get stutted, get stupid.'  
'You'll want me body people will walk you through it.'  
'Step by step, like you're into new kid.'  
'Inch by inch with the new solution.'  
'Transmit hits, with no delusion.'  
'The feeling's irresistible and that's how we movin'.'

Lee and Kazuma made the first moves, they dashed past each other performing some slick maneuvering and brought their speed up higher and charged again each one starting up a combo. Kazuma spun using his backhand only to meet Lee's foot causing a shockwave to be sent out. Lee tried to catch Kazuma off guard by spinning over his head and coming down with he other heel, but Kazuma was ready just as lee was before him he had spun off Lee's foot with his backhand and brought up an uppercut meeting Lee's slicing heel. Kazuma changing it up a bit followed up with his uppercut and pushed himself into the air allowing Lee to fall back onto his feet and recover for his next attack. Lee landing on his feet knew that it was the perfect time to take Kazuma down. Pushing off the ground with as much force as possible he flew past Kazuma then flipped and by sending chakra out of the soles of his feet sent himself flying downwards aiming a two handed hammer attack straight for his head. Kazuma predicted this relatively well and reached up grabbing Lee's hands. Then, using the momentum Lee had built up, flipped three times before throwing Lee to the ground with as much force as he wanted to allow at this point in the match. Lee braced himself with his feet as he hit the ground the impact caused him to slide against the decks wood floor and leave black streaks were the rubber on the soles of his shoes had rubbed off and nearly burned back onto the wood. Lee mounted himself in a new attack position and Let loose some chakra, opening his first gate, Lee had mastered the gates and they were no longer self damaging to him. Kazuma felt Lee's chakra rise in level so he did the same allowing his chakra to flow more freely through him.

While Kazuma and Lee bashed each others brains in, Sasuke and Michiyo had begun a battle of skill performing jutsu after jutsu testing each others skill. Michiyo started with a simple fireball jutsu. Which Sasuke easily copied and enhanced creating a blast of fire that nearly scorched Naruto and Sakura's hair who were behind Michiyo.

"WATCH IT SASUKE!" His teammates yelled in unison. Sasuke was getting ready for the next jutsu and wasn't really paying attention to them. Michiyo laughed at his friends screams of advice. Michiyo threw together a lot of hand sings now, and they were fast. Sasuke felt his head hurt each sign was different and his Sharingan was barely able to keep up with her speed. When Michiyo finished she simply clapped her hands together, then hit the ground with them. Raising her hands from the ground she produced two serpent like dragons made completely of fire, she held their heads and they seemed to be asleep.

"Lets see you copy this!" She let go of both the heads and the instantly sprang awake flying out at him. Sasuke thinking quickly dodged forward so the dragons wouldn't get the nin behind him and led the back towards Michiyo. He jumped and landed on her shoulders then pushing off soared into the sky. Michiyo dropped to the ground and sent her dragons after him but Sasuke was ready with his own move. Quickly Sasuke threw together similar signs to that of Michiyo's but they were different in certain ways and when he was complete instead of clapping his hands he brought the left hand over his right arm trailing it across it slowly engulfing it in flame.

"Copied it, NOW EAT IT, INFERNO DRAGON JUTSU!" Sasuke threw his hand out sending a large dragon for fire at Michiyo, his dragon easily out powered Michiyo's dragons and she was sure to be badly hurt from that attack.

"THERE YA GO SASUKE YOU GOT HER NOW!" Naruto and the others were cheering as they saw Sasuke release the dragon on her. Sasuke was sure he had one but his eyes grew wide when he saw what happened next. She smiled and he eyes had changed the green color in her eyes was gone and the outlines of her pupil in her eyes had formed a strange pattern. Suddenly her eyes shined a bright fire red and she stuck her hands out into the incoming dragon, Sasuke thought she was crazy but what he saw next was unbelievable. As the dragon met her hands the fire was absorbed into her palms and the dragon dissipated after Sasuke couldn't pump any more chakra into it. He fell to the ground not being able to stand he wobbled on his feet till he nearly collapsed, She had sucked all of the chakra he had used in that last jutsu into her palms and he couldn't believe it.

"What the hell" Naruto and the others were all speechless they couldn't figure out how she had stopped the dragon, let alone absorbed all of it back into her body. The band had stopped playing when everybody had seen Sasuke release the dragon attack on Michiyo, they had all fled back into the cabins for safety.

"Ready to give up Sasuke?" Michiyo was very impressed by Sasuke and didn't want to have to make him suffer anymore humiliation as there was no jutsu he could use that she couldn't absorb with her Kekkei Genkai.

"Never, I'll figure out how you did that and I'll finish you off for good." Sasuke Was arrogant and wasn't about to give up so easily they had only done two jutsu's he had plenty of Chakra left.

"Okay its your funeral" Michiyo threw some hands signs together about to initiate her next attack.

Lee and Kazuma's battle was really heating up now, Kazuma had raised he Chakra to meet Lee's and Lee was getting tired he'd have to open the second gate soon to keep up with Kazuma who seemed to have ungodly amounts of chakra, in truth this was particularly true. Unknown to the others including Lee the Watari clan had a special Kekkei Genkai that gave him near endless amounts of chakra, but this didn't make Kazuma nearly as strong as Lee thought it just made him a lot more durable than Lee.

"That was a good attack Lee, your technique is impressive." Kazuma was having a lot of fun during this match and Lee was too but Lee was scared Kazuma never faltered no matter how much chakra he put into his attacks. Lee was about fed up with it and was ready to open the second gate.

"Heh you haven't seen anything yet my friend" Lee took a position that would allow him to open the next gate without damaging himself, he knew that he could do it otherwise but these positions helped him perform it without the risk of hurting himself anymore. Kazuma knew what Lee was doing as he'd seen this position before.

"Oh isn't that interesting you can open your gates without hurting yourself. It must have taken along time to perfect that. Well just so it stays even I'm going to show you one of my Jutsu's" Kazuma threw a few simple hand signs together then one Lee and the others had never seen before suddenly Kazuma was surrounded by flowing chakra. "SPIRIT AURA JUTSU!" This was the second level of his Kekkei Genkai It released all his chakra into and aura around his body that was literally glowing with power. The aura melded with his flesh and turned his skin pale. He dropped his flack jacket off onto the ground and his body started to show a design. The design were waves upon waves each one a slightly different shade of his skin a more of a teal color.

Lee couldn't believe his eyes, or his senses Kazuma had raised his physical strength and chakra output so much using a single jutsu. He'd have to increase his just as much. Changing positions he initiated the Third gate. His body sprung to life with chakra. Bits of wood floated up from the floor and disintegrated around his body.

"Let's go, one more time." Lee was determined to finish this challenge here.

"You got it." Kazuma was ready to finish it as well, but a voice screamed in his head the voice of a mentor.

'Stop messing around with him and finish it.' Kazuma sent his reply back using mental telepathy

'awww but I was having so much fun, okay whatever.'

"GO LEE!" Sakura was screaming hoping her encouragement would help him win. The sudden bursts of strength shown by Kazuma and Lee had the attention of everybody including Sasuke and Michiyo who had stopped their contest to watch the end of Lee and Kazuma's. Kazuma and Lee charged each other one last time breaking the wood in their trails of chakra. Lee flipped into a downward bash of his back fist, while Kazuma spun and used the force of his knuckles to meet Lee. The shockwave from the contact was enormous. The shockwave had knocked many of the Nin to their knees trying to brace themselves against it and the shockwaves kept coming as neither combatant was willing to give up yet. Lee felt himself about to slip against Kazuma's attack but suddenly Kazuma's attack stopped and he was flung back into the ground where he slid on his knees to a stop. Lee had won the match and the others cheered.

."You did good Lee, you beat me in this battle" Kazuma's aura was fading and Lee had already let his gate close but what happened next caught everybody by surprise. "But its not over yet" Kazuma's head sprang up and his aura flashed back into brilliance Lee didn't have a chance to react as Kazuma was at Lee's side and had grabbed onto his shoulder lifting him and aiming him at a pillar.

"SPIRIT BLAST!" An eruption of chakra sprang from Kazuma's hand and fired him at the pillar nearly knocking the pillar down it shook the entire ship like an earthquake.

"LEE!" Sasuke was angry he knew something wasn't right and know he knew that Michiyo had been a diversion so he couldn't help Lee "You tricked me!" Sasuke had turned on Michiyo.

"No, Kazuma and I are from separate villages we have separate targets." Michiyo was lying now but her plan had been foiled then she heard the same voice Kazuma had heard. 'Stop messing around with him, kill him now!' Her eyes grew wide

'Killing him was not apart of the deal!' The voice responded quickly

'I don't care kill him now!' Michiyo had no choice as she felt herself being attack from the inside she quickly rushed Sasuke.

"NO WAY, CHIDORI!" Sasuke's hand burst alive with lighting and he was ready to take her down. He rushed her his arm spread open, but he saw something strange. Her eyes had lost their color again, but this time formed a different pattern and then glowed bright yellow. She grabbed his hand and the Chidori was gone. 'She did it again, she absorbed my chakra' Sasuke felt his strength slip away, this girl was unreal.

"FIRECRACKER!" Michiyo screamed and explosion of fire wind and lighting erupted from beneath Sasuke sending him upwards as she flung herself from the attack. The attack ended as quickly as it started but Sasuke was charred slightly he had burns across his body and the wind and lighting had torn his clothes in many places like a thousand Shurikin.

"SASUKE!" Sakura cried out watching the scene. She ran to catch him as he fell but was stopped short as Kazuma appeared with both Lee and Sasuke tucked under his arms. He laid the boys down against the floor and placed a hand on each of them.

"Didn't mean to rough you guys up so much sorry about that." Two pulses of chakra rushed out of his hands and into the two boys they gasped a breath to show they were alive and their bad wounds sealed up as well their burns went away, except for the tears in their clothes and their prides they were completely undamaged now.

"Kazuma, its time we left" Michiyo spoke quickly and both her and Kazuma disappeared with ninja speed. Being followed by the other ninja. By this time Kakashi Kurenai, Gai, and Asuma had come out to see why their former pupils weren't inside with the others they found Sasuke and Lee in the arms of Sakura and Naruto with the others close behind they were heading in when asked what had happen Naruto took initiative and before anybody could speak explained that.

"It seems this mission was more dangerous then we thought."

Authors Note: OMG another chapter done. This ones less of a cliffhanger and a little rushed at the end. Reason for rush is its because it was getting way too long. In my word it was 11 pages and think if I hadn't used those song lyrics the way I did it might have been even more OO Yikes. Anyway, I hope you all liked this chapter. A few questions are left un answered and why Naruto takes it upon himself to explain nothing to the other nin is because he's trying to cut the embarrassment down for both Lee and Sasuke. Second question, what was up with their Kekkei Genkai's they're so over powered…you'll find out later they're not really that over powered, but like the Neji, Hinata, and Sasuke their Bloodline gives them a distinct advantage.


	5. Ranks

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Naruto I am simply borrowing them to create a story of my own, each and all of the characters (excluding OC's that shall be introduced later) are owned by someone else.

Authors note: Well in the process of reorganizing and editing all of the chapters I realize that I don't really have time to do this all. So I've decided to just continue the story and save the changes I've made too the story. These changes are very small and probably not really noticeable. There is one big change and that's the spacing I tried to imply to make the story go smoother. As well I've decided to be rather less generous than before. Before I was punching out chapters every other day, well now I'm going to try and slow down and make more quality chapters and make them neater and with less errors. Anyway that's all I had to say so on with the show

** Trials of the Shinobi**

A Naruto Fan-Fiction

By Dark-Angel-Cronos

Part 2: The tournament begins

Chapter 5: Ranks

After the battle on deck the Nin from Konoha had become very worried. Their new enemies were very strong, and seem ruthless in tactics. Yet Kazuma's kindness at the end of the match gave everyone a strange feeling like they really weren't the enemy but a few nin still held a large grudge against Kazuma and Michiyo, but now wasn't the time for grudges. Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata were in Sasuke's room waiting for him to wake up. Lee had Neji and Tenten looking after him so although worried about him Sakura and Naruto knew Lee would be okay.

"GRRRR I want a crack at that Michiyo girl, who does she think she is! She could have killed Sasuke." Naruto was furious although he had shown a lot of maturity upstairs on deck for Kakashi and the others it was more because he was confused by a lot of things. Why did Michiyo almost kill Sasuke, why did Kazuma step in and save Lee and Sasuke, who are these people anyway and what do they want with them, and most importantly, what was that thing that stopped Sasuke's attacks?

"Naruto I feel the same way but Sasuke needs us now we can have our revenge later when the tournament starts up." Sakura's inner self couldn't help but e angry and she wanted to show Michiyo one four and give her a good thrashing for hurting her Sasuke-kun.

"Naruto-kun, Sakura I don't think its right to judge people so harshly. I mean sure they hurt Sasuke and Lee but something's not right. Here. Why would Kazuma heal them both after the thrashing? Plus neither of them seemed intent on hurting Sasuke or Lee to start with." Hinata was thinking the situation over hoping Naruto would keep his head about things and not do something stupid.

"Hinata you're right, but that still doesn't explain why they did it." Sakura was starting to think that maybe Hinata was right and that they hadn't really meant to hurt Sasuke or Lee but she still wanted a piece of Michiyo.

"Well I'm not gonna sit around and just wait all day! I'm gonna go talk to Michiyo and figure what the hell is going on!" Naruto got up from his seat and moved out the door slamming it shut. Sakura gave a worried look towards Hinata.

"Don't worry I'll go and make sure he doesn't get himself hurt." Hinata got up and followed her hot headed lover. Sakura was left alone with just Sasuke now, how often she had longed to be alone with him like this. She just wished she knew if he was okay he had been out all night and his body was acting weird. Irregular breathing and he often developed a cold sweat. He seemed to be getting better though and she wished he would just wake up.

"Please wake up Sasuke-kun, we need you, you're strong and the teams gonna need you for this mission," Sakura had stayed up all night and she was so tired she could help herself. She laid her head down his chest her arms making herself a pillow so she could be comfortable. "Sasuke-kun, I need you" She yawned after this and started to drift asleep. Sasuke however wasn't gonna let her get away with sleeping on him see easily.

"Hmmm you're so annoying sometimes" Sasuke had spoken his eyes were closed though. It brought Sakura to attention waiting for him to speak again she didn't lift her head though she really didn't want to she was so tired. Sasuke was slowly moving though he pushed his hand from beneath the covers. Sakura barely noticed as she was too tired, but what she did notice was that he had wrapped his arm around her.

"Sasuke-kun" She moved up to look at him his hand was in her hair now and it slid down to her back. He slowly got up his eyes still closed. His head was hanging low but he lifted it to look up. Opening his eyes he spoke again but it was a little incoherent from his weakness. "What Sasuke-kun?" Sakura bent down a little to try and hear better, while Sasuke had a better idea he wrapped his arms around her and moved so that he could whisper in her ear.

"You're so annoying sometimes, but I think that's why I like you." Sasuke moved back and shook his head throwing off any fatigue he still had and gave her a smile. He seemed calm and peaceful.

"Sasuke-kun, you need your…" Sakura was interrupted; Sasuke had put his finger to her lips and just smiled at her.

"I'm fine I don't need any rest. Some sunlight might do me some good but for right now just don't speak." Sakura blushed as he pulled her closer moving his hand away his lips were centimeters away from his. She was finally gonna do it. She was gonna kiss Sasuke. Her mind screamed so very loud she thought for sure Sasuke heard it 'YES!' But to Sakura's undying bad luck the door crashed to the floor and Sasuke and herself were frozen in time as they heard the sound of a familiar voice.

"I tried to stop him but he had to see Sakura." Neji was standing behind a panting Lee he was still in his strange formal clothing's as no one had dared change him out of them.

"SAKURA-CHAN! Do not fear you're love is perfectly fine and I am here to stop your weeping!" Lee was standing his arms out stretched in declaration of love.

"LEEEEEEEEE" Sakura had turned to face the fuzzy browed ninja her head was red with anger and her expression struck terror into Lee, but slowly her face cooled and her expression became sad and tears began to well up in her eyes. She had been so close and yet no matter what it hadn't happened. It seemed there was almost no way it could have gone wrong.

"WHY ME!" Sakura cried out for almost the entire ship to hear. Sakura turned and hugged Sasuke close he hugged back lightly.

"Come on Lee," Neji had Lee by the ear and was dragging him back to his room. Lee was stone petrified from the experience and was heartbroken Sakura had turned to Sasuke for affection.Neji noticed that Naruto and Hinata were at the stair well talking and wondered just what they were talking about.

"Naruto-kun, don't be foolish, even if you do figure out why she did it what do you plan to do?" Hinata was worried that Naruto was going to pick a fight he couldn't win. She was scared for him, she had seen how easily Michiyo had tossed Sasuke to the grown using that jutsu and her weird eyes.

"I'm going to figure out what's going on and then I'm going to kick her ass for hurting Sasuke." Naruto had become very protective over all his friends after Sasuke left with Orochimaru and they had finally gotten him back and he wasn't going to have some arrogant Nin from another country think she could walk in and just take his friend away from him again. "She crossed the line with that last attack; I won't forgive her for that." Naruto turned and showed her he was serious his eyes showed fire and determination.

"Naruto-kun…..be careful…..for me?" Hinata turned away she didn't wanna look at him; she was scared of what she might see.

"I will," Naruto dropped down and kissed her on the cheek. "Don't worry I wouldn't leave you alone." Hinata looked up at him he was wearing his usual confidant smile now he gave her a wink and went up top. Hinata sighed and smiled she went back to see what was happening with Sasuke when she saw Neji standing in the doorway of Sasuke's giving her a suspicious eyebrow. She gave one right back and pointed at Lee who was unconscious and being dragged by his ear. Neji looked behind him and could see that Lee had been knocked out when he had dragged him into a wall going through the door.

Up top Naruto was walking the deck looking for Michiyo. Heading towards the back of the ship he saw Kazuma and Michiyo lying back in lawn chairs. Michiyo seemed relaxed she had a headset on and a MP3 on the ground at her side. She had switched into a bikini bottom and her top was a simple t-shirt Kazuma had no shirt as usually and was in comfortable jean shorts that had been apparently made from a pair of jeans, you could tell from their frayed ends.. Both were wearing sunglasses and looked asleep. Naruto walked over to them trying to contain his anger. Neither one moved as he was now hovering over them.

"Yes, can I help you," Michiyo had her eyes closed behind her glasses and didn't know who was standing over her but she moved her headphones down off her ears to show she was listening.

"Yea you can help me! Why the hell did you almost kill Sasuke last night?" Naruto was still in control over his anger but his voice had an angry tone and it stirred Kazuma.

"Michiyo, its Mr. Uzumaki himself." Kazuma gave Michiyo a shake and she rose up lowering her sunglasses just enough to see over the rims and opened her eyes.

"OH! MR.UZUMAKI! It's you what a pleasant surprise I wasn't expecting to see you until later during the tournament let me just say it's a pleasure to meet you" Michiyo had stood up but not taken off her sunglasses. She vigorously shook his hand leaving a shocked expression on Naruto's face.

"We've been wanting to talk with you for a while now Mr. Uzumaki" Kazuma had gotten up as well and gave Naruto's hand a shake after Michiyo was done. "Let us introduce ourselves"

"My name is Michiyo Nakamura of the hidden Flame village," she showed him the headband she had wrapped around her waist like a belt it was hiding under her shirt.  
"And I'm Kazuma Watari of the hidden Spirit village" he lifted the headband that was handing from a loop in his jean shorts.

"It is indeed a pleasure to meet you Mr. Uzumaki. If I may be so bold could I ask if the Kyuubi is still locked away in that body of yours?" Michiyo had gave him a disarming smile.  
"Yes it is but I didn't come here to talk about…" Naruto was interrupted by Kazuma.

"Wow, that's great you know you're the hero of Konoha right?" Kazuma's voice was bright and flattering.  
"Huh?" Naruto had never been called the hero of Konoha before and he felt strangely flattered they called him that.

"Yea you're body was a vessel for the Kyuubi, you are very important to Konoha if not for you the Kyuubi might have still been around. By the way have you learned to use the Kyuubi's power yet?" Michiyo relaxed a bit removing her glasses.

"Well I don't want to brag but yes I have it's completely under my control now." Naruto blushed he was loving all the praise he was receiving and it was sure boosting his ego.

"That's excellent you'll have to show us sometime I'd love to see a display of power like that" Kazuma gave him a smile and then laughed "But I'm sure its not as strong as me" he gave him a little flex of his muscle.

"Whatever! My strength is the strength that took down Sasuke when he was using Orochimaru's cursed seal at level 4!" Naruto hadn't noticed that Michiyo had given him a devious smirk as she saw they were getting to his ego and he was speaking of things he shouldn't.

"Wow that's strong." Michiyo complemented him. "One more question, have the Akatsuki attacked you? I hear they're after the Jinchuuriki." Michiyo was pleased, placing her glasses back on she smiled as he willingly spilled the beans.

"Oh them I've taken care of a few of their members I don't think I really need to worry about them" He smiled wide and gave them the final bits of info they needed.

"Oh look at the time, we'd love to hear more of your story but we have to go. Right Michiyo." Kazuma smiled at her, she smiled and nodded back.

"Yep sorry to have to leave so soon, we'll see you later in the tournament okay" She gave him a smile and they picked up their things.

"Okay!" Naruto smiled and turned around feeling very happy that they had thought he was a hero. Then it hit him. His smile diminished and his face turned into a face of anger. "GAH! YOU TRICKED ME!" he turned quickly yelling at no one as they had already left. "DAMMIT!" Naruto screamed he was angry they had tricked him, and to on lookers he looked like a crazy man. Sasuke and Neji had come up top Sasuke wanting to get some fresh air since he had been stuffed up in that room all night and most of the day. They both saw Naruto screaming and kicking over two lawn chairs and quickly developed twitches in their eyes.

"Neji I think that's enough fresh air for now." Sasuke was already turning around with Neji's help.

"I think that's enough fresh air for a week or so yea?" Neji gave him a look and Sasuke nodded in agreement. They sighed together.

"Why do we have to know him?" Sasuke and Neji returned to the room with annoyed looks on their faces that gave Sakura and Hinata a very sneaking suspicion Naruto had something to do with it. Naruto returned shortly following Sasuke and Neji appearing the doorway of Sasuke's room more angry than when he left but unharmed for which Hinata was glad. Everybody had been told that there would be an announcement about the tournament before they arrived at the Island. Apparently the other villages that they were going to pick up have decided that they will not send participants.

"GAH I wish they would tell us what's going on already!" Naruto was still mad and Hinata was cuddling him on a sofa in the wreck room they had found. The room had arcade style games, TV's that got clear satellite reception, pool tables, and had a small corner kitchen stocked with prepackaged sandwiches, cup ramen, and drinks of both the hot and cold nature.

"Oh come on Naruto just be patient this wreck room has plenty of things we can do to bide time how about you join Sasuke and Neji in their game of pool or something and stop being such and impatient little brat" Sakura was rummaging through the fridge for something for Hinata and herself. Although every one had gotten older they still treated each other like they had when they were kids.

"Naruto-kun come on, let's go look at the Arcade stuff they got here" Hinata was impatient as well but she didn't show it.

"Oh alright." Naruto got up with Hinata and played some arcade games before the loud speakers were turned on and it brought everybody attention to the voice speaking.

"Attention all Ninja participating in The Trials of a Shinobi." The voice was calm and was a young woman making the announcements.

"Please report to the top deck near the front. For of those of you who don't know where that is it's the side where the concert was last night. That is all, thank you and good luck" The group was puzzled at the good luck part but they headed out running to the top deck and over into a crowd on ninja to see what was going on. They had the stage setup again but this time there were just three life size wooden dolls like a puppet master's dolls. A Nin wearing the headband with the six pointed star was standing on stage with a microphone in hand.

"Can I have everyone's attention please?" The Nin was fumbling with a notepad trying to get everyone to calm down. The crowd just got more restless all the Nin were crowding around the stage and there had to be literally hundreds of ninja their. "ATTENTION!" The Nin now had the full attention of everyone and was ready to get started, he handed the microphone to one of three Nin who appeared behind him.

"Alright I'm sure you all want to know what this tournament is all about. Well we're not going provide any answers. You'll have to figure it out yourself, but to prepare for the upcoming tournament we're going give each and every one of you a rank and a number. This rank and number will do one of two things. First it'll give everyone of you a little extra info about your opponents and how strong they are. Second its going basically decide how the teams are divided up." The proctor was in a little bit of a hurry to get on with things so it took a ninja raising their hand to get his attention for more information to be given. "Yes, what is it?"

"Teams?" The unknown ninja lowered his hand and gave the proctor a suspicious glance that everyone soon followed suit with.

"Ugh okay, the first part of the Trials is a team tournament. Teams will consist of 5 members and each team will random be created using our machines. Each team will go through 3 rounds fighting a different team each round. Each round is made of 5 single combatant matches. Each team member must fight 1 match per round if you choose not to fight a match or can not fight a match you will be disqualified from the rest of the trials and someone else will have to take your place. During these rounds we will keep individual points on each Nin. For every match you will obtain 5 points and for every round your team wins you will gain 5 points, think of these as preliminaries and to move on you need to successfully accumulate 15 points." The announcer Nin took a breath.

"Wait! What do you mean disqualified?" An angry Nin yelled from the crowd.

"Oh that's simple, all disqualified combatants during this phase of the trials will be shipped back to their home countries in shame, so don't get to comfy once we land cause many of you will be coming right back and being shipped back to where you came from." The ninja had a wide evil grin now that made most of the Nin uneasy. "I'll let my fellow proctor explain how the ranking will work." He handed the microphone to a female proctor now.

"Okay let's get started. This is very simple I will call out your name and you will step up on stage. Each one of these dolls is tuned to rank a certain quality. The one on the far left ranks Taijutsu, the far right Genjutsu, and the one in the middle basic attack Ninjutsu." She smiled for effect and then spoke again. "You will step on stage and face on of the three dolls and perform a jutsu the doll will rank you with a letter rank just like a mission D being the lowest and S being the highest. Then after we're done the dolls will print out a list of numbers and names we will post these numbers for all of you who care to see how high in your letter rank you were." The Nin became a fuss at the news to show off their strength. "Okay let's begin, we have a list of random Nin and we're going to begin with, SHINO ABURAME!" Ino was with Shino and she turned not really believing he was going first.

"Good luck Shino!" Ino screamed to her new boyfriend he turned and gave her a nod. The others from Konoha were worried that Shino might not be able to use a jutsu strong enough to gain him a high rank. Shino on the other hand had a move ready that would give him a nice average rank and not show off too much of his skill. Shino stepped to the stage and faced the proctor waiting for any further instructions. The blank monitor that was relatively unnoticeable before came alive and showed a picture of Shino from his ninja license and as well as three bars that each had a word next to them, one was strength, another was chakra, and the third was potency. A mechanical voice came alive from the speakers apparently the screen was speaking to them.

"Shino Aburame, Leaf village." The speakers grew silent and Shino gave the proctor for a signal to do something.

"After the computer calls your name and village for everyone to hear you are immediately allowed you start any jutsu or movement and attack the doll of your choice." The proctor nodded that Shino could start.

Shino paced slowly till he was in front of the Taijutsu doll, he clapped his hands together and began focusing chakra. Shino then put together three simple hand signs.

"HERCULES BEETLE STRIKE!" Shino let his voice pump adrenaline into his system and let him release more chakra into his attack. His arms swung outwards and he slammed his two hands, now shaped like pincers, into the dolls sides. The screen flashed and the bars became empty then slowly started to fill his strength raised about halfway up, while chakra did the same. His last bar filled up 2/3's of the way however and it flashed a grade across the screen.

"ShinoAburame B Rank, currently top score on Taijutsu charts." The voice announced then a new picture flashed on the screen. It was Lee's

"Rock Lee, Leaf village" The speak was now doing most of the talking and the proctors were standing at the sides of the stage observing probably to catch cheaters and to make sure the attacks performed wouldn't destroy the dolls and if they did replace them. Shino stepped down and Rock stepped up in his place almost if on queue.

Lee pondered what technique he should use against the doll, he was still a little weak from the night before and he wasn't sure if he could perform anything too high level but he needed the boost so he opened his first gate giving the crowd something too ooo at as the chakra around him swirled. His swirling chakra gave him and idea and he almost stepped off the stage backing up to make room. He ran about three steps did a front flip and came down hard with his left heel across the dolls head. It was his relatively strong tornado heel slice that he had first performed on Gaara a while back. The screen came alive ranking him with his bars and gave him a A rank in Taijutsu and pushing Shino down a rank, Lee was pleased that he made above average with such a weak attack.

The computer called out a few more miscellaneous ninja names that aren't very important most of them making D's C's and one or two made a B but non of them were really spectacular. But then a special Nin from a village the Konoha troop hadn't seen in action yet came to the stage.

"Kuroda Yamashita, Light village" the computers voice announced his name but no ninja immediately appeared on stage instead the crowd had to clear a bit as the ninja who apparently was Kuroda walked towards the stage he had straw hat on his head and wore rather flimsy looking glasses.

He defiantly wasn't the most graceful almost falling off the stage as he got up and took his position before the Ninjutsu doll. Slowly taking off his traditional straw hat he revealed his short cut hair and rather gentle face. Adjusting his glasses with one hand he pulled a very sharp katana from its sheath and placed the katana's handle in his mouth. Apparently his jutsu involved the weapon but he needed both hands to perform the hand signs. He took a deep breath and began a relatively short sequence of hand signs buts that's just because his hands moved so fast from one hand sign to anther seamlessly he seemed to put together hundreds of hand signs together a second when he was finished he let the sword drop from his mouth and into an open hand the sword burst alive with chakra that quickly formed a blade of almost pure light it was stunning and blinding as well.

"Solar Katana Blade Winds!" He moved swiftly forward taking only one step and sliced diagonally and sent out a huge shockwave of chakra and wind that hit the Ninjutsu doll almost knocking it over. The light was gone and everybody could see now the screen had already displayed a grade and everyone was shocked to see what he had obtained. On the screen was a large red S that signified he had performed a technique of immense power. He bent down pickup his hat he placed it back on his head and sheathed his sword a smile across his face as he let the hats rim sink over his eyes so he seemed mysterious and it would have been a perfect exit after a marvelous S display if he didn't trip over his own feet and fall on his face.

"He maybe a klutz, but he's strong." Neji was standing next to Sasuke and watching the doll as it regenerated parts of its body that had been sliced and diced by that last attack and then set it self upright again ready for the next combatant.

"Yea, I was starting to think we wouldn't have any fun here but now. I think I'm starting to get an itch." Sasuke smirked a devilish grin as he thought about all the strong warriors that were in this crowd and how he so much wanted to fight them all.

Authors note: Okay small kind of cliffy hanger there it's because it was starting to get long at 4500+ words and me still having to write descriptions for roughly 25 more important Nin. The next chapter will be along shortly. I hoped you all liked it. Review for what fights you want to see in the upcoming preliminaries. I'm going to try my best and oblige you guys but it might be hard seeing how a lot of these ninja need to get 15 or more points to move on to the next round. Don't worry though even if some of the couple pairings don't go on to the next round that doesn't mean they're leaving the Fanfiction. They still get a chance later to prove themselves strong.


	6. Exhibition

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Naruto I am simply borrowing them to create a story of my own, each and all of the characters (excluding OC's that shall be introduced later) are owned by someone else.

Authors note: Thanks for all your support guys . The few reviews I get keep me going as well I have a very lovely assistant that I haven't mentioned but yes my GF is helping in this project giving me ideas and helping correct me if I make a mistake. So, thanks Hun for all your help . Okay let's keep moving, warning 0 romance this chapter.

**Trials of the Shinobi**

A Naruto Fan-Fiction

By Dark-Angel-Cronos

Part 2: The tournament begins

Chapter 6: Exhibition

Neji and Sasuke pealed their eyes open wide searching amongst the crowd for strong opponents they were scouting out the competition. After Kuroda created that hole in the back wall they began wondering just how many strong opponents were in this lot of Ninja. Most of the ninja around were still aw stricken by Kuroda's incredible performance, so much so that they didn't even feel the presence of Sasuke and Neji watching them.

"Sasuke, do you see what I see." Neji was noticing only a few Nin as strong as themselves in the crowd. As well he saw a few who had strength Neji never could have imagined.

"Yeah, not too many strong ones, but that isn't to say there aren't any possible threats out there." Sasuke changed back to normal lowering his level three Sharingan. Sasuke felt his body tingle as he couldn't wait to fight these tough opponents he then heard a familiar name called from the screen.

"Kankurou of the Sand, Sand village" The display screen presented a picture of Kankurou as the first of the sand siblings stepped on stage. Temari was in the crowd cheering for her younger brother, Gaara was standing next to her shaking his head as Temari yelled for Kankurou to do his best.  
Kankurou now had three wrapped dolls on his back. Two were normal cocoon shaped, but one of them was much smaller and looked more like it might have been a bowl or a shield but in fact it was his strongest doll.

"Okay fella's its show time," Kankurou lined himself up with the Taijutsu doll he planned on crushing it into dust with his newest puppet technique. Reaching back behind him he tightened the puppet strings around his fingers then threw his arms forward pulling around him the two cocoon puppets. The puppets broke free of their wrappings, each one sending out tentacle arms from its side and wrapping itself around the doll and the other puppet. Kankurou slapped his hands together, transferring the strings on his left hand to his right so he now controlled both with a single hand. Squeezing his right hand tight the grip that the two puppets had on the doll got tighter the doll was seem to be feeling the strain as everyone heard it begin to crack.

"Okay time to introduce my newest puppet" Kankurou pulled his other puppet from his back and threw it into the air. The puppet burst from the wrappings and fell to the floor it was a large spider like puppet. Long spider like legs sprung from the body and it began to walk towards the other two puppets as Kankurou's hand commanded. The spider began wrapping its long legs around the doll as Kankurou's fingers laced in between each other. Kankurou smiled wickedly as he was about to crush that doll.

"BOA CONSTRICTER CRUSH!" Kankurou turned quickly towards the crowd pulling hard on the strings making them tighter and tighter. As he did so his puppets squeezed harder and harder soon he heard the loud crack of the doll's wood frame breaking in two but when he turned he saw that his puppets were feeling the strain and had small cracks in them. He let the strings loose and the puppets wrapped themselves and returned to him. Kankurou looked at the doll in aw as he saw it reconstruct the cracks and indentions his puppets had left in it. The screen flashed and a large A-rank appeared over his profile. Kankurou had a smirk on his face but his thoughts still dwelled on the auto regenerating dolls. Kankurou stepped of stage as the next name was called.

"Shikamaru Nara, Leaf village." Temari turned around in the crowd looking for Shikamaru, she couldn't see him but he was making his way towards the stage. She was wondering if he had anything new to use against the dolls. If he didn't she was fearful of what might happen if he didn't get a high rank.

Shikamaru hopped on stage mumbling something about how troublesome going through that crowd was. He moved to the Ninjutsu doll and gave it a funny glance inspecting over looking for weak points. When Shikamaru saw nonee he simple sat on the floor and took his thinking position creating a cage with his hands. On lookers who didn't understand Shikamaru's tactics turned and started talking amongst themselves but the talk didn't last long as Shikamaru stood up ready to get down to business. Shikamaru popped his neck from side to side and looked down his shadow stared back at him. He quickly formed three hand signs and crouched down pushing his palms into his shadow his hands began to seep through the ground and into his shadow.

"Shadow torture hand jutsu" Shikamaru lifted his hands from his shadow to reveal they were now covered in a dark plasmatic energy. Walking slowly over to the doll careful not to let the energy touch his own skin as it lashed out a little too far for Shikamaru's liking.

Standing in front of the doll with firm a footing he slammed his palms into the doll's chest plate. The dark plasmatic energy lashed out and began encompassing and lashing the doll as well dark lightning sprung forth and shook the doll with its force. The attack seemed designed to completely and utterly drain and destroy his opponent as the energy quickly left Shikamaru's hands and enveloped the doll turning it into its own silhouette. Stepping back a few paces Shikamaru slowly began to close his hands into tightly balled fists. As he did so the dark sparks and lashing energy slowly quelled till it was completely still.

"Implode!" The dark energy was sucking into the doll at Shikamaru's words and even more dark lighting began to spring from the dolls body shaking it violently as it began to smoke from its force. When the doll stopped shaking Shikamaru let his hands relax. Doing so, what seemed like dark blood started too ooze from the doll. It was Shikamaru's shadow, his power was returning to him after accomplishing its mission. Once the shadow energy had returned to Shikamaru's shadow the screen flashed a large S-rank across Shikamaru's picture.

The ranking continued with random people going up a few of them attained B and A ranks but not many. Among the few that attained B's were the rest of Shikamaru's team. Ino performing a torture technique she had perfected. Chouji used his enlargement jutsu to new heights to make his fist massive and crush the Taijutsu doll. As well all of the leaf villages more mature ninja did rather well. Kakashi and Gai scoring A's respectively and Kurenai and Asuma managing well deserved B's for non original Jutsu. Now it was Hinata's turn, what would she produce no one really knew but Naruto and the gang knew that she must have something interesting considering she's always striving to become stronger.

"GO HINATA-CHAN!" Naruto was yelling to his lover most enthusiastically embarrassing Sasuke and Sakura to no end. Hinata simply turned and gave him a smile, before facing the Ninjutsu doll. She had recently modified her Shugo Hakke Rokujuuyonshou to be much more powerful and was itching to show off its new Ninjutsu properties.

"Byakugan!" Hinata's eyes became strained as her bloodline intensified her vision. She couldn't see any chakra in the dolls body but she had already memorized the place of every Tenketsu on a person's body and was ready to perform her newest jutsu.

"Enforcer Eight Divination Signs, One Hundred and Twenty-Eight Palms of the Hand" Hinata's hands started producing hand seals then stopped once she finished her announcement. Neji and the others looked in aw as Hinata took what seem to be Neji's Sixty-Four Palms of the hand's attack position but she did something unexpected. Hinata began forcing chakra out of the tips of her fingers. Not moving an inch from her original position, Hinata began thrusting her arms out like Neji would during his assault and as she did streams of chakra shot from her fingers like lasers and impacted upon the doll. Neji was in complete aw no Hyuuga had ever been able to have such precise control with their chakra, yet she was performing it without even a hesitant sweat. Hinata fired laser after laser hitting the doll each time at a different point where a Tenketsu would be. Her attack was simply amazing if performed on a normal enemy it could leave them stunned and without chakra just like Neji's attack but her attack was better because each blast dealt major external damage as well. The outer shell of the doll was beginning to crack immensely from each blast as the lasers pierced its hull searing away any protective material it once had. Hinata finished her dazzling display of pinpoint accuracy by charging her last two shots with more chakra than normal and piercing right through the doll with two lasers aimed at the chest cavity. Hinata was very pleased her technique worked so well and even more pleased when an S-rank flashed across her profile. She returned to the crowd leaving most of the on looking Nin star struck and stood beside her loving boyfriend.

"Hinata-Chan that was simply amazing," Naruto was hugging his violet haired friend very affectionately and praising her every step of the way.

"It was nothing Naruto-kun, just something I came up with during my long hours of training." Hinata blushed she didn't really think her technique was as great as he kept making it out too be but now noticing the on looking faces she supposed he was right.

Neji's ranking was up next and he was feeling nervous. He hadn't developed any new techniques and wasn't really prepared for this; he'd just have to use his sixty-four palms of the hand attack. Neji took position in front of the Taijutsu doll and activated his Byakugan then started his assault. Neji didn't want to have a lower rank than anybody else and pressed every ounce of chakra he could into each attack and from everyone else's point of view his attack was beyond impressive.

After Neji's rather impressive performance that netted him an S-rank, the rest of the leaf ninja went with others in between. Sakura, Tenten and Kiba scoring well deserved C's as they held back to conserve their techniques or at least that's what they said. Naruto and Sasuke put on a marvelous performance since they went right after each other performing the Big Rasengan and Sasuke's upgraded Chidori respectively destroying what was left of the Ninjutsu doll halting some of the ranking for a new one to be brought in. Unfortunately that doll didn't stay long between Temari and Gaara's very nice performance of the Sand village's power; Temari slicing it up rather nice with wind blades and Gaara crushing it with his sand coffin. Temari netted an A-rank like her brother Kankurou, but Gaara's got an S successfully making him stand out more so than the other siblings. Besides the leaf Nin most other Nin could barely pull above a C rank and everyone could really tell who the cream of the crop was and who'd be left in the dust. It was Kazuma's turn and everyone of the Leaf nin paid careful attention to his movements they were confident he'd use a strong jutsu but what he did do surprised them a lot as well the ranking from his move surprised them even more.

Kazuma moved in position in front of the Ninjutsu doll, and cracked his neck and his hands seemingly working out any kinks so his jutsu wouldn't go wrong. The leaf Nin in the crowd were already bracing themselves for an unbelievably impressive display but he simply pointed a finger at the doll turned his head and covered his eyes. Everyone was very puzzled but their questions were soon answered as they heard him let out a faint chuckle.

"Spirit Shot" A small orb on energy appeared at his finger and he fired it. No beam, no big explosion, all it did was impact upon the doll and fizzle out. The leaf Nin couldn't believe it, was he really going to hold back so much as to not even use a real jutsu. The screen flashed and an S-rank appeared; the entire crowd was in aw they couldn't understand what had happened. A loud crack broke the silence and Kazuma uncovered his eyes to look at his handwork. Slowly, the doll began to crack and crumble into dust, disintegrating before their very eyes. Kazuma laughed and then stepped off stage as the officials ran off to replace the Ninjutsu doll for the third time today.

The rankings continued with only a few rankings left. A ninja from Michiyo's village was up next, and she seemed rather confidant.

"Haru Kunari" The flame kunoichi stepped on stage and lowered her hood she had covering her head it let down long braids of tightly wrapped black hair. She stepped in front of the Ninjutsu doll and began performing hand seals her eyes were closed. She slowly got faster and faster with her hand signs. Her body began to glow with a faint reddish orange glow, and her hair was now floating behind her.

"Swirling Heat Jutsu!" Haru finished her jutsu performing a triangle like hand sign that seemed to send out a heat wave as the air began to fold and become hazy like the air above a fire. Haru seemed to begin to dance. As she danced large seared in slices began appearing in doll and it seemed to be smoking until she stopped dancing and took her position in front of the doll once again. The screen flashed an S rank appeared and she pulled her hood back over her head and returned to the crowd.

"Chiasto Kunari" The screen didn't seem to change but it did flash and a picture of a nearly identical Kunoichi appeared. The second of the twin flame Nins was up.

Chiasto was dressed differently than her sister her hair was down and not in braids and she didn't sport the same hood either. They were identical in almost every feature though, same slightly matured figure, same deep brown eyes and jet black hair, as well same lightly tanned skin and face. Chiasto wasn't closing her eyes as she stepped in front of the Ninjutsu doll, she simply held both arms out and two burst of flame appeared in her palms. She played with them for a while her fingers feeling the heat of the flame before she squeezed them in her fists and they became elongated fire whips.

"Fire whip, Double lash!" Chiasto started her attack throwing her right hand out lashing at the doll with one whip. The lash came down across the chest plate leaving a melted exterior in its path. The second whip came from underneath and left a melted slash as well, the two slashes had made an X in the chest of the doll.

"Fire whip, Staccato!" Chiasto crossed her arms in front of her chest and the whips followed crossing in front of her as well. She flicked her wrists out repeatedly sending the whips in and out at the doll, cracking a thunderous snap at every flick. Each flick left a rather large burn and made the doll recoil as well. Chiasto then began to spin her whips flying outward almost hitting some in the audience.

"Fire whip, Searing heat!" Chiasto lashed hard at the doll now. Each lash wrapped the whip around the doll; the lashes left large circular rings of melted material. She finished by wrapping both whips around the doll and tugging hard this spun the doll around and around.

"Fire whip, Burst Dance!" Chiasto used her best whip attack now. She flung both whips at the base of the doll and snapped them quick it caused a large upshot of fire that engulfed the doll. The doll was on fire and still spinning creating a fiery pillar. Chiasto had let her whips die releasing them from her hands and stepping off stage as the screen flashed an S.

Once again the doll had to be replaced and the officials were getting worried that maybe they shouldn't have invited so many deadly ninja to the trials. After the doll was replaced, everyone was becoming restless; they knew there were only a handful of rankings left to be had. The next contestant had drawn their attention back towards the stage.

"Ayumi Ishimaru, Shadow village." Dawning the Yang symbol across the bottom of her headband she had come with only a single other teammate. The Shadow village was by far the least represented village in the tournament and how they would fair no one really knew. Shikamaru's head turned towards the stage and away from Temari for a second, because he knew of the Shadow village. His family had descended from that village meaning that most of the people there would have power similar to his. The girl on stage wasn't what Shikamaru had pictured though she was wearing rather loose black pants that had lots of chains on them either for style or for weapons, he didn't know which. She wore a tight black tank top that showed a lot of her semi pale skin. She had black eyeliner and lipstick it gave her a very gothic feel but to accent that her hair was short and died a bright purple. The most notable feature Shikamaru saw however where her hands, she had long fingernails perfectly manicured and were painted a deep black that seemed darker than even the night sky. 'Why would you have your nails down like that if you're constantly in situations where it's not needed?' Shikamaru was confused by the way she had her nails, but he'd soon find that they weren't painted that way just for show.

Ayumi took a position in front of the Taijutsu doll, the dolls shadow had shifted positions over the day and luckily for her the shadow was outstretched and at the tip of her feet. She smiled softly and placed her well manicured hands together forming a single jutsu sign.

"Shadow Claw Jutsu!" She bent slowly down and touched her fingers tips to the tip of the dolls shadow the shadow was absorbed into her fingers instantly. Her hand became black but not oozy like Shikamaru's had hers were just like gloves. She raised a single hand and without any notice her fingernails shot out and pierced the doll, each one had become razor sharp and focused to a point where it could pierce even steel. Her fingernails retracted and she began again this time with both hands. Her nails shot out and began stabbing the doll rapidly piercing different parts of the body and literally tearing it to shreds. The crowd was in aw as she simply moved her fingers and her nails did her bidding. Bending slightly in different directions, stabbing and slicing at the doll, leaving puncture wounds and slash marks all over, her nails seemed an irreconcilable force. When she finished her nails retracted back to their normal length and the shadow in her hands was gone. She snapped her fingers and the dolls own shadow began oozing out of the wounds she had left. The shadow seemed to melt away at the dolls body like it was bleeding acid. When the shadow had returned to the ground the doll was unrecognizable and very basically ruined for any further use. The screen flashed an S came across and her ranking was over. Ayumi stepped down and walked back into the crowd ignoring their stunned stares.

The Taijutsu doll was quickly replaced as they had moved replacement dolls for all the dolls after the last Ninjutsu had been destroyed. The screen flashed a profile and called out a new name.

"Ayame Ando, Shadow Village" Another nin dawning the Yang symbol stepped on stage taking a position in front of the recently replaced Taijutsu doll. Her hair was long and neatly tied into a long ponytail. Her face was soft and didn't give the gothic feel that the last Shadow nin did. She wore all black how ever, black flak jacket and cargo pants. She had her head band tied tightly around her forearm, and she had a bandanna tied around her other arm they seemed to symbolize something but no one knew what. She began her hand signs quickly pushing together many complicated signs. They reminded everyone of Shikamaru's but she was performing them faster and with a lot more complicated ones. When she finished she dove her right fist into her own shadow and began tugging. A long completely black broad sword was now in her hands she shook it and the dark shadowy energy was flung off revealing the blades true color. The blade looked like steel but its color was strange as she turned it I her hand the blade changed different shades of silver and black like it was alive. The hilt and guard of the sword was serpent like skin and a large black snake mouth opening wide on both ends.

"Serpent Death Blade" The Snakes eyes popped open to reveal red eyes they were jewels but they seemed so alive she let the sword go from her hand and it floated with a demonic dark energy. She directed her hand pointing towards the doll the blade spun and flung itself into the doll's chest. The doll shook violently then it subsided. The doll began to bleed black but as the blood came out it was absorbed back into the doll. As the blood was absorbed the doll began glowing black till it was a silhouette of it self. The doll shook slightly and exploded the sword flying out towards Ayame. She caught it and drove it back into her shadow returning it to its preverbal sheath. The doll was destroyed but the screen still flashed her rank a very nice S appeared. The crowd had covered their eyes and shielded themselves from the explosion and Ayame had already left the stage making everyone wonder where she had went. The officials sulked as they replaced their precious doll once again hoping that maybe the next person would leave the doll in better shape.  
"Miharu Nakashima, Light Village" The screen flashed a new face and called her name but no one appeared. Everyone turned looking for some movement in the crowd signifying her coming towards the stage but still nothing. From off the side stepped a young girl. She was rather shy she had short brown hair and was dressed in normal clothes nothing unusual her head band wrapped around her neck in a bandanna fashion. She had her hands in front of her in a defensive position as well she had her head down. She was by far the youngest nin to step on stage she must not have been more than 16, she was also rather small in stature almost kid like she only stood a mere four and a half feet tall.

She took position quickly in front of the Ninjutsu doll and pulled a crystal box from her pocket. She set the box on the ground aiming it so one side faced the doll and formed three hand signs then touched the box it began to shine brightly. The intense light began blinding people as it got brighter and brighter but before it became to bright for the girl she lifted one end of the box up and it released a large beam of light that smashed into the Ninjutsu doll and burned it crispy as well left a rather large hole in the center of its chest. The doll however still had enough of itself left to regenerate the hole and return from crispiness. The light from the box had everybody wincing and scrunching there eyes, so no one saw the girl exit the stage and go back to the cabins as well they barely caught her A-rank flash across the screen. It was getting dark and the officials where thinking of calling it a night. They checked the list and suddenly realized they only had one contestant left and they were basically done.

"Michiyo Nakamura, Flame village" Michiyo and Kazuma were in the back of the crowd waiting for the rankings to end. Michiyo went forward slowly and then jumped up and landed on stage a second later using ninja speed to make a flashy entrance.

"Good luck Chiyo-Chan" Kazuma said under his breath as she left. Michiyo was confidant and sporting very dark shades she turned towards the crowd and gave them all a smile she was using her eyes to read them and gain something she would need to produce her most powerful attack.

She turned back towards the dolls and positioned herself in front of the Ninjutsu doll. Crouching low and holding her arm as she flexed her muscles, she sent chakra to her palm. A spiral of chakra formed around her hand. As she swirled it she brought in fire with her other hand and it spiraled with her chakra. The wind picked up and began swirling her hair and blowing hard outward from her making everyone cover their eyes. As she produced more and more shockwaves the crowd began to grow scared at her power. Her chakra spiraled around her and focused into her hand, her hand began to spark with electricity as she was reaching in for her third element. She was now ready, she thrust her hand down and boards of wood beneath the spiral of elements in her hand began to break up and be dragged into her hand.

"FIRECRACKER!" She pushed her arm forward throwing her spiral of power at the doll. It rocketed from her hand sending a massive shockwave behind it as it left her hand throwing everyone in the crowd back a bit Michiyo and Kazuma never budged as they had braced themselves. The blast hit the doll dead on and exploded with great force. Shrapnel of wood from the doll and the floorboards shot out along with fire and electricity that fried the other two dolls completely as well the wind forced behind the blast and had gone through and knocked the entire back wall of the stage down. As the smoke for the explosion cleared all three dolls were in ruins and the screen was cracked and lying against the only standing support pole left it showed a large S-rank then flickered and went off as it lost the last of its power. Michiyo and Kazuma had left before anyone could get up from the shockwave and see into the smoke. The officials seemed a little jumbled as the head official took the mike and told everyone that there were no more rankings left and they could return to their cabins. The leaf ninja stayed behind and grouped together to talk.

"Sasuke?" Sakura was worried Sasuke looked scared his eyes were full of fear and he seemed out of it. The others were silent and felt the eerie presence that this might be their last mission.

"Sakura, I'm just a little aw stricken. Don't worry" Sasuke shook his head and walked ahead of the group making Neji, Lee and Naruto stay back and grab Sakura as she tried to run off to catch up with Sasuke.

"Guys let me go!" Sakura was fighting Neji and Lee's grip on her shoulders. Naruto stepped in front of her and gave her a serious look that caused her to go stiff and stop fidgeting.

"Sakura, Sasuke just needs his space. He just saw what Michiyo could have done to him if she had been serious in their battle. He needs to think things over. As do we all" Naruto was becoming wiser and wiser, and it was strange to everyone, but since the sound incident Naruto had seemed to grow another personality and it was very comforting to know he had a reasonable side.

"Okay. I just hope he realizes that there is no way any of us can do this alone."

Authors Note: OMG it's finally done. This chapter by far took the longest to write for many reasons. Lots of cutting, that's right I cut out entire sequences and dialogue. I just didn't want to clutter it up with repetitive stuff so eventually I abandoned the everybody gets a ranking idea and went with the important and some non important people get rankings. Although I would have loved to show every rank I just couldn't. As well each attack took numerous hours of choreographing….yes I choreographed each attack to an extent. Basically I got my headband out and looked over what it would look like and went for the best effects. As well I owe a big big big big! Thank you to my loving girlfriend, who will remain nameless and actually pretty much wrote two of the attacks for me I just transferred it to my story with enough changes for it to make sense and feel like I wrote it. Also all her support was great as well. I Love you Hun

Okay well hoped you liked it. See you next chapter. Remember every review helps .


	7. Allies?

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Naruto I am simply borrowing them to create a story of my own, each and all of the characters (excluding OC's that shall be introduced later) are owned by someone else.

Authors note: Whoo easier chapter coming up than its back into the coal mines punching out incredible hard to coordinate action scenes (lots of preplanning involved otherwise you might get stuck with one guy you don't want to win having the upper hand). This chapter is kind of mix of romance, comedy and the moving of the characters personal involvement including most of the OC's as well as the Leaf gang. If anybody in the previous chapter seemed too powerful, trust me they aren't, the only two that are truly more powerful (right now) than the Naruto gang are Michiyo and Kazuma and that's because of their Kekkei Genkai's. After a little bit and some increase in skill and power by our leaf gang everyone will be around the same level.

One last note Italics aren't actually being said they're used to set sequence (flashback in this case and will form now on)

**Trials of the Shinobi**

A Naruto Fan-Fiction

By Dark-Angel-Cronos

Part 2: The tournament begins

Chapter 7: Allies?

It's the morning after the Rankings and with all of the amazing ninja still on their minds none of the leaf gang had gone to sleep and so many were still sitting in the lounge doing something to keep themselves awake. Naruto was losing badly at cards against Hinata, Sakura, and Ino. Sasuke was calling conference over at the kitchen counter with Lee and Neji about some of the unknown ninja they had seen last night. Tenten and Chouji were making more coffee and preparing sandwiches and ramen for those who wanted it. Not surprisingly Shino, Shikamaru, and Kiba were no where to be found. Shino was going to see if they had the printouts of the rankings finished yet, Kiba was walking Akamaru, and Shikamaru had left a long time ago and was lying on the roof with a new friend.

"HAH! Three queens" Naruto threw down his hand and smiled because he thought he had won.

"Not so fast Naruto, Hinata is still in this." Sakura pulled off her socks and threw them into the pile. They were playing strip poker she had stayed in with her Aces and 8's and lost, but knowing Hinata Naruto would soon not have anything left to bet. All three of the girls were still relatively clothed still having their pants shirts headbands just losing their socks and shoes. Hinata was fully clothes she hadn't lost yet. Naruto however seemed almost completely nude with only his underwear left.

"Uh" Naruto looked at his girlfriend hopefully she just shook her head and laid down her heart flush.

"Sorry Naruto-kun but you're out" She gave him a smile, "looks like you have something of mine." She pointed towards his boxers.

"What! Aw come on Hinata-Chan. I can't give you these." Naruto stood up and suddenly became defensive as his girlfriend was crawling over to him smiling gleefully as she was going to force him to uphold his deal after all it was his idea to play strip poker. Naruto had gotten up and ran, Hinata chasing after him. Sasuke and Neji were looking at the four with twitching eyebrows at their ridiculousness. Sakura and Ino were laughing Sakura had fallen back from laughter and her head was hanging over the arm rest of the couch. She looked over and saw Sasuke looking at her with his eyebrow raised and his eye a little twitchy.

"Hi Sasuke-kun!" She smiled wide and gave him a wave. Sasuke laughed he guessed they all had put a little too much liquor in the coffee to keep them awake.

"Hi" He gave her a wave humoring her drunken mood. "Girl drink worth a damn she's only had two cups tonight" Sasuke turned back to Lee and Neji sipping his coffee with baileys in it.

Ino was lying against the couch enjoying the show Hinata and Naruto were putting on for them darting back and forth around a chair.

"Come on Hinata don't make me." Naruto was begging his girlfriend. He gave her a sheepish smile.

"Aw Naruto-kun a little embarrassed are we? A few days ago you were so confidant in yourself what happened to all that confidence?" Hinata smiled and jumped over the chair tackling Naruto to the ground. "Hah got you now."

"Aw come on Naruto take that else where theirs better places to do that than on the carpet in a public lounge you know." Neji was annoyed at the two he didn't become so loose when he drank, and was appalled by people who did.

"Foods ready!" Chouji went over and set a tray of sandwiches in front of the guys and took another to the girls while Tenten followed with bows of ramen giving one to Neji and Lee and than setting one for Naruto on the table.

"RAMEN!" Naruto dragged himself from under Hinata and dove for his ramen. However he was too slow Hinata had gotten up and picked up the bowl before he could reach it.

"No Ramen for you!" Hinata laughed a little and gave him a smile as he looked at her in shock.

"But…but…but…but it's…my ramen." Naruto was stuttering he couldn't believe he had just had his ramen taken away.

"This is collateral till you give me what you owe me" Hinata gave him a wink and a smile. Naruto was dumbstruck. 'Ramen, underwear, ramen, underwear, ramen, underwear'

"IT'S JUST TOO HARD OF A CHOICE! GIMME MY RAMEN!" Naruto darted up and chased tried to grab for his ramen but missed. He chased after her as she led him in circles around the room.

"I seriously hope they're drunk" Sasuke spoke sipping his coffee not able to take his eyes of the embarrassing yet transfixing spectacle. Neji sipped his coffee his eyes closed; it was far to embarrassing to keep them open. Tenten came around and hugged him from behind waking him up as he leaned over and let her whisper to him. Neji nodded without letting the guys hear anything and Tenten walked away slightly pleased.

"She just wants to talk later that's all" Neji was having a hard time concentrating on his thoughts with Lee and Sasuke giving him suspicious looks. "Anyway, it looks like those two have finally gotten to a stale mate." Neji nodded over to Naruto and Hinata. Hinata was standing on one side of the table directly opposite of Naruto on the other side when she moved he moved and when he moved she darted the other way but he was no in perfect sync with her and wasn't going to let his ramen get away. Sakura and Ino were sitting on the couch sipping coffee very gently trying to hold back their laughter while Chouji devoured the sandwiches he had placed on the table not a few moments ago.

"Come on, Hinata don't make me take that ramen away from you" Naruto moved a little to the right as Hinata judged the situation.

"No way, you gotta catch me" She smiled and stuck her tongue out. She darted to the left then back to the right. Naruto did the same, but he didn't expect her to keep going right. When he tried to turn back he fell over, but he was able to dive at her and grab her ankles. Hinata felt a tug at her legs and she fell forward throwing the bowl from her hands it headed towards the now opening door.

Hinata covered her mouth as she saw who she had hit. Sakura and Ino couldn't contain themselves laughing so hard. Chouji was choking down a sandwich and everybody else was trying very hard to contain their laughter even Sasuke let out a small chuckle over his usual amused smile. Shikamaru was standing in the door way with a ramen bowl on his head and a ring of noodles around his legs, at his side was the Shadow Nin Ayame.

"Does this happen often Shika?" Ayame lifted the bowl slightly to see his expression but quickly let it fall back down. The entire group got eerily quiet as Shikamaru raised the bowl off his head his face looked rather serious.

"Naruto why are you always so troublesome" She smiled showing that everything was okay and all was forgiven as he could tell that some where a little drunk. "Anyway, everybody this is Ayame Ando, she's an ally of sorts." Shikamaru wiped the ramen off of his face with a napkin Sakura gave him as he moved and sat down in a chair by Sasuke and the other guys. Ayame walked in slowly analyzing the situation moving slowly over and next to the girls on the couch.

"Let me introduce everybody, I'm Sakura Haruno" Sakura turned to the rest of the room, and took in a rather deep breath "This is Ino, and that's Chouji. Over at the counter with Shikamaru are Sasuke, Neji, and Lee. Tenten is the one refilling the coffee, and the two on the floor are Naruto and Hinata. They're probably the drunkest of all of us, because usually they don't go throwing ramen on people's heads." Everybody gave her a nod while Naruto and Hinata quickly dignified themselves Naruto quickly throwing his clothes back on and Hinata getting up off the floor.

"It's very nice to meet you all. I don't have too many friends so it's nice to feel welcomed." Ayame smiled trying to act casual. She wasn't even sure what she was doing here, Shikamaru said that they'd just stop in so they could talk but apparently she was supposed to talk in front of all these people as well.

"How did you meet Shikamaru anyway?" Sakura was curious; Shikamaru had only been gone a few hours how did he manage to make an ally so quickly?  
"I think I should let Shika explain that" Ayame was still unsure of weather she should tell them everything she knew or just Shikamaru, she was starting to think that it would be okay but she didn't want to go to far and jeopardize her mission. She needed to see how Shikamaru talked with these people and weather or not it was okay.

"Sure, well a few hours ago I left to go sit on the roof. I was actually…" Shikamaru starts telling his story.

_Flashback: _

Shikamaru was sitting on top of the same tower he had a few nights before waiting for Temari to meet him. He had grown fond of something new he had found while in sand and that was star gazing. He looked up at the stars and was reminded of his mission in sand. During the day there weren't any clouds to gaze at when he had time for leisure, but at night the sky was full of stars. He and Temari used to sit on top of the flat roof tops and look out at the stars. Shikamaru felt his eyes grow heavy but he was easily awakened when he felt a light tap on his shoulder.

"Temari-Chan I've been waiting what took…" Shikamaru turned and it wasn't Temari and her usual flying fan it was another Kunoichi. The shadow Nin's headband shined under the moon light and Shikamaru was able to quickly identify her as Ayame from the rankings.

"Is your name Shikamaru 'Nara'?" she put an emphasis on his last name and cocked her head to one side questioningly.

"Yes, what of it?" Shikamaru had a few questions for her as well, but he wanted to wait and see what she wanted to know.

"Well then, It looks like you're my target" Ayame gave Shikamaru a wide smile. Shikamaru was a little taken back and went to draw a kunai, but was interrupted. "Oh no not like that!" Ayame laughed at his foolishness. "Don't be so troublesome," She conjured a single hand sign and Shikamaru's shadow disarmed him removing all the kunai's and shurikin from his bag and handing them to Ayame.

"What the, how did you do that without touching my shadow!" Shikamaru was taken back he knew of other shadow control techniques but not ones that could be performed without touching a persons shadow.

"I'll explain that later. I was sent here on an important mission. I have two main points" She moved slightly and Shikamaru now noticed she was standing on a shadowy platform. "Point number 1: The shadow village is allied with Konoha and we'd like to offer our assistance in this mission to you. Basically we're allies if you accept, and as allies I can give you choice information on a certain village you have probably noticed by now." She coughed and Shikamaru understood she was speaking of the Spirit and Flame Villages. "And point 2: This is more of a personal matter but, I'd like to train you" She gave him a wide grin and moved off of her platform and next too Shikamaru.

"…." Shikamaru wasn't sure what to say. He had to think about this for a moment but Ayame wasn't being patient.

"Well, come on handsome what's your answer!" She was being very blunt and gave him a disconcerting frown. "If you don't agree to point 1: I'll have to kill you and refer back to my superiors that Konoha has broken their alliance with Shadow and seeing how you have almost all of your top ninja here that wouldn't be wise."

"Well what if I disagree with point 2." Shikamaru had no intention of not accepting the training he knew that the Shadow ninja had much better control over shadow skills than he did and he needed as much help as he could get.

"Oh Shika I don't think you will disagree to that one. I know you need my training to perfect that shadow manifestation you tried at the rankings. So I know you won't refuse my first offer either. So just agree alright." She gave him a wicked smile and leaned back in triumph she had outsmarted a genius but only because she herself was a genius she just hoped he wouldn't see through her rouse.

"Fine you have yourself a deal." Shikamaru felt a small sense of regret well up inside him cause he had given in so easily but she was very observant and he knew he couldn't win she had given him no alternative.

"Great it's settled then. We'll start your training real soon okay." She was about to jump off the building but Shikamaru wasn't going to let her. He quickly formed hand signs and caught her with his Possession jutsu. "Oh are you always this rough with girls. Well if you wanna play, then let's play." Throwing together hand signs Shikamaru suddenly felt like he was the one under the possession.

"What the heck!" Shikamaru was dragged to his feet and took a position identical to Ayame's.

"I'm a Shadow Nin I can reverse a simple possession jutsu, Now what did you stop me for." Ayame seemed more serious than she was before. She hadn't expected this from him.

"I want some of that info: as well I'm sure the rest of the leaf team would like it as well. So just comeback to our lounge with me and we can talk about the other villages." Shikamaru wasn't going to let her leave with precious information that they could use now as opposed to getting it later.

"Umm," Ayame hadn't planned on talking to anyone besides Shikamaru, and she couldn't afford to seem suspicious. "Okay I'll come along, but don't try anything funny."  
She let down her jutsu and they hopped off the tower together. Shikamaru felt a strange sensation in him as they fell down from the tower. She wasn't as annoying as he found most people in fact, he kinda felt like he did around Temari.

_End Flashback:_

'TEMARI!' He had forgotten about her he looked up and saw her fan floating off to the side he swore he saw tears in her eyes as she flew off into the sky to be alone. His heart felt like it had been crushed, he knew he could explain but he felt so bad about it all. Shikamaru didn't tell the more intimate details about Temari and such to the leaf gang. As he ended his story he felt these emotions come flooding back, but repressed them.

"And well that's what happened. I suppose now would be a good time for Ayame to give us a little information." Shikamaru gave Ayame a glance she had gotten a little comfortable and accepted a coffee from Tenten's tray.

"Yes I suppose it is but does anyone know what time it is. Someone said there would be a special announcement this evening and last time I checked it's nearly 7." Ayame glanced at her watch and tapped it was the same time it had said before. "My watch stopped."

"Mine did too" Everybody looked over Shikamaru was looking at his watch. Everybody with a watch pulled theirs out and they all read the same time, 6:54.

"Wait, Shikamaru you left hours ago was it dark outside?" Sakura was getting confused they had been in there for hours and she had sworn that her watch said about 4 when Shikamaru had left.

"Yeah why?" Shikamaru looked puzzled he hadn't checked his watch so he didn't know what she was getting at.

"You left around four o'clock, why was it dark so early?" Sakura and the others were becoming very puzzled but Sasuke seemed to have the answer. He got up quietly and walked over to a bookcase removing a book and flipping through the pages. His eyes grew wide as he found the page he was looking for.

"I think I know why now." Sasuke looked up from the book to see he had everybody's attention. He examined the map once more to check and make sure he was correct.

"We probably entered a part of the Ocean called the Netispo current. It's a very strong current that runs over a large bed of iron and steel ore. As the current runs across it, it turns into one big magnet. Because of its magnetic pulse it causes ships, boats, and other vessels as well as watches and other electronics as such to malfunction. But the ship seems to be immune, but our watches weren't." Sasuke unbuckled his wrist watch and let it fall to the ground then picked it up.

"They're useless now" Sasuke turned to the rest of the group as they removed their watches as well. The intercom screeched on with a loud hissing sound as the announcer came over the com.

"Attention all passengers, a few hours ago we entered the final length too the Island where the Trials will be held. This will be your last night on the ship so please as complementary thanks for coming please pack your bags with anything you would like from our fully stocked closets. As well after entering the Netispo current all electronic items you have brought with you will stop working but once we reach the island and its protective effect range your electronics will be back online." The announcer stopped for a moment it seemed another person was giving her a message.

"Attention all passengers, once again, we will be arriving shortly but before arriving my superiors have informed me that you are all invited to a complementary dinner in your honor as well to be briefed after words about what's going to happen once we reach the island. That is all." The announcer cut the speaker with a resounding click and everyone was a little awe stricken. Everyone slowly got up and very quietly and left the room for their own to pack and get ready for tonight. There was an odd sense of false security in the air and an eerie feeling that things had just gotten very bad.

A few hours later the announcer came back over the intercom and gave the announcement for everyone to report to the upper deck and then follow the roped off path down into the dining hall. The leaf ninja as well as all the other villages filed out in some of their best evening wear Naruto and the other boys had been forced into tuxedos as well the girls had found very stylish kimono's. They entered the dining hall which had been turned into a luxurious Buffet as well a small stage had been setup and the band from before was playing soft dinner music with a slight Jazz/Rock feel.  
Naruto escorted Hinata down the stairs and slowly let his eyes scan the room getting a feeling of where everybody was and didn't even notice as Hinata slipped off his arm to go and fill both of them a set of plates so they could sit and eat. Off to the side were Michiyo, Kazuma, Haru and her sister Chiasto. They were talking with Gaara and the light Samurai Kuroda. Miharu was standing behind Kuroda basically hiding as the elder Ninja conversed. Naruto was anxious Michiyo had a devilish smile but that quickly faded as she noticed him. She turned back to Kuroda and avoided showing expression to keep Naruto in the dark.

"So we have you alliance than Kuroda," Michiyo was holding a glass of wine but she hadn't sipped it. Kazuma was leaning against the wall he seemed uncomfortable but that was probably just the tuxedo. Gaara seemed to e speaking softly to Kazuma as Kazuma nodded when appropriate.

"Yes I believe we do, now to address the actual situation I came her too address. Who are these lovely ladies behind you?" Kuroda smiled sheepishly he was quite a ladies man back home but these girls seemed different than any other. He was infatuated but felt slightly intimidated as they were twins and very powerful at that.

"Oh let's let them introduce themselves I have another person I must speak with anyway." Michiyo quickly left the group leaving them and heading back to a lone table, seemingly walking into an empty corner of the room. Kuroda approached the two flame sisters and adjusted his glasses nervously. 'Nervous, no the great Kuroda is never nervous' The girls where wearing matching kimonos, one with long braids that he assumed was Chiasto was wearing a very fiery design as well it had a very elegant golden dragon border and trim. The twin with her hair down, that he assumed was Haru, had a red kimono as well, but hers was a softer and graceful cherry blossom pattern, the blossoms where spread about the skirt of the dress and the back showed a lovely three with many blossoms as well. The blossoms were not traditional pink blossoms but rather a lighter orange red that made it seem less feminine and more elegant. More like a warm feeling than that of spring.

"Hello I am Kuroda and the shy one hiding behind me is my partner and my foster sister Miharu." Kuroda moved aside to show Miharu but she just moved with him peaking her head around the corner her cheeks red and nodded.

"AWWW SHE"S SO CUTE!" Chiasto jumped up landing into a semi crouching position to make eye contact. She gave the girl a smile, but it seemed to only frighten her as she ran off, Chiasto followed yelling "Wait I didn't mean to scare you!"

"Please excuse my eccentric sister." Haru stepped forward and held out her hand "I am Haru Kunari. It's a pleasure to meet you, as well it's a pleasure to know that I have such a powerful ally, you know I sa…."

Kuroda was quick on the uptake and took her hand kissing the top stopping her mid sentence. "The pleasure is all mine, I would like to offer my services in any way I can. Hopefully you will find my performance useful or pleasing" Kuroda gave a sheepish smile but just realized what could be possible be wrong with that sentence. Haru felt her face grow a little hot and she giggled on the inside as Kuroda's face became very red.

"I mean as an ally…not like that…I'd never ever offer that to a woman I had just met I mean I…uh…..okay lets just start over, Hi my name is Kuroda" He blushed deeply his glass got foggy and where now resting on the edge of his nose as he felt too foolish to raise them up.  
Haru simply giggled at his foolishness and nodded. "I'm Haru, as well I think it was very sweet of you to offer your umm, services," She laughed a little before finishing "but I keep personal matters out of my alliances." She gave him a smirk hoping he'd catch on and play along.

"Right, well then uh can I get you a drink?" Kuroda offered motioning towards the buffet table.

"You may" Haru offered her arm to him and he enthusiastically took it.  
Meanwhile on the other side of the room off in the corner Michiyo seemed to be talking to her self at least to Sasuke that's what seemed to be going on, he had noticed her and was watching her lips move as she seemed to be talking to herself. He saw Gaara walk over and then sit down next to her and taking a piece of bread from her basket. Sasuke opened his Sharingan and began reading her lips but he only got to catch a few words of her old conversation before she seemed to be talking to Gaara.

"So, everything's working perfectly, not only do we have light and sand with us but leaf as well. Excellent, oh hello Gaara what's up?"

"Damn" Sasuke swore under his breath Neji noticed him looking in the corner and nodded.

"Don't worry, Gaara has promised to be a neutral party if it comes to a fight between us and flame. But that doesn't mean he can't gather information for us." Neji nudged Sasuke as he stared at the two. Sasuke came back and began talking with the others again.

Hinata had successful lost her date and was no searching all across the room's floor to find Naruto but she couldn't. She didn't dare open her Byakugan less draw attention to herself so she just kept walking and searching.

"Naruto-kun, where are you?" She walked patiently through the crowd she had gotten Ino to wait at a table with Sakura and Shino so she was beginning to worry that the food she had gotten for Naruto might have gotten cold.

Naruto Was having troubles of his own. He was anxious, so many people, he was trying to watch them all and figure out the best way to spend this night. Also all of the searching and trying to eavesdrop had worked up an undeniable appetite. Naruto feeling frustrated out of anxiety finally gave up his quest of monitoring everyone for food. Rushing to the buffet table he slowly scanned the food, picking out things he would eat in his mind. He didn't know where to begin, so thinking like Naruto would he took an empty platter that had probably once been home to pigs in blankets and began filling up on massive amounts of the foods he wanted. He ignored the crazed stares that he was giving and the suggestion from one of the waiters to get a plate from the side of the table. After filling his platter, Naruto had the brilliant idea that he could see better if he was on the ceiling, so going off to the side where he wasn't easily noticed he walked up the walls, carefully balancing the tray so food wouldn't fall, and then got on the ceiling. He had eaten upside before and knew very well how to balance the food he never spilled a drop.

Hinata was becoming frustrated, she couldn't find Naruto anywhere. She was becoming increasingly worried that something might have happened to him but then she felt something fall on her head. It was Sashimi it bounced off her head and landed into her open hands. She looked up Naruto was on the ceiling standing eating hungrily from a platter.

"Naruto-kun!" She called up to him and waved for him to come down, but Naruto confusedly took the wave as a gesture and using his platter hand he waved back. The platter flew from his hands and into a crowd of people but who it would hit was something he wouldn't expect.

"LOOK OUT!" Naruto yelled as he saw where the platter was heading.  
Sakura had been searching high and low for Sasuke, she wanted to try and get him alone again, but from the way she couldn't find him she swore that he must have been avoiding her on purpose. Sakura's heart soared as she spotted her beloved Sasuke-kun with Neji she walked slowly up behind him hoping to surprise him. Suddenly she felt something cold hit her in the neck and fall down her kimono. She jumped scaring the shit out of Sasuke and the others as Sasuke turned to see what was going on he was bombarded with food including a large Sushi roll that knocked his head back making him fall back onto the ground. Sakura recovering from the Sashimi down her back turned towards the spot where the food was coming from. She gasped in shock as a large silver platter meet her face and leaving a rather large bump on her head as well as knocking her out. She woke up a few minutes later rubbing her head and seeing Sasuke threatening Naruto with his fist.

Off in the corner a very strange standoff was happening between Gaara and Michiyo. There was only one piece of bread left in the basket and Michiyo seemed hesitant to take it. Gaara was looking at the bread, he wanted it but he didn't want to take it away from her. They had been eating bread and talking slightly for a while since the others had left them alone. Gaara was tired of the wait and reached out, but Michiyo reached it before him. Quickly she took the piece and cut it in half giving Gaara a half and then munching on hers smiling. Gaara took the piece and smiled back she was clever she just wanted too see if he wanted it.

"Now one of us is going to have to go get some more bread." she smiled a bit and reached for the basket tipping it up too see if they had missed any small pieces.

"I don't suppose someone's going to give us a refill." Gaara stated looking around none of the waiters seemed to even notice them they were too busy running around filling water and bringing special orders directly to people at tables in the middle of the room.

"Like anyone cares about the two weirdo's in the corner eating bread." Michiyo laughed and stood up. "I'll be back in a minute." she said as she walked into the crowd taking the basket with her. A few minutes later she came back with a basket full of bread and a small smile on her face.  
"Sorry it took so long, but I swear I have a great story for it." Michiyo laughed and started telling him what had happened.

_Flash Back:  
_  
Sakura, after recovering from her traumatic experience with a sliver platter and a falling ninja, was now at the food tables filling a plate for herself. Naruto was with her apologizing many a time over more so than she could count.

"I'm so very sorry Sakura-Chan" Naruto gave her a sad face and she looked up smiling a little to keep him from making another scene.

"I told you it was alright. You just got a little carried away that's all" She lied, she was furious, he had dumped food all over Sasuke and left a mark that now made her large forehead even more apparent. Ino and Tenten had tried to conceal it with foundation but it didn't help much. Sakura turned and saw that there was only a single dinner roll left in on the tray. She finally thought that maybe her luck was turning around. She reached for the roll only to have it snatched away by Michiyo.

"Sorry grandma gotta be fast to get stuff you want." She twirled the bread on her finger in a taunt then dropped it in her basket.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING GRANDMA!" Sakura steamed, she wasn't going to take that from someone she considered low life scum.

"You miss elderly Kimono." Michiyo waved her finger up and down at the slightly out of style kimono she had worn. It was covered in flowers and fans she thought Sasuke might like it since his family's symbol was the fan after all.

"What?" Sakura was speechless; she examined Michiyo and realized she might not be able to fight back too well on the looks department. Michiyo was wearing non formal clothes but she looked great in them. She had on a long single color skirt for a little more class and it fit her nicely, as well her simple halter top gave her a more tomboyish look that made her very attractive. To top it all off the shades she was wearing brought out her eyes so well that Sakura began to fume and blush with jealousy.

"What's wrong Sakura-Chan? Jealous that I could probably easily steal that precious little Sasuke away from you?" Michiyo smiled and winked, she knew she was getting under her skin and it felt kinda nice, she never had been admired or been the object of jealousy and it just felt so good.

"Why you little…" Sakura was interrupted Naruto had stepped in between and stopped the charging Sakura from whaling on Michiyo.

"Ladies lets not do anything crazy now." Naruto was trying to calm the situation but it wasn't going to work.

"Oh yeah, this coming from a person who eats on a ceiling. Blow off Naruto!" She threw him aside. Naruto careened off a little ways hitting a table flipping a punch bowl forward over his head and straight at Sakura and Chiasto who had walked up to say something to Michiyo. Luckily for Michiyo Chiasto kinda blocked the incoming punch but Sakura got drenched. Running out of the room Sakura was crying and soon the other leaf girls followed. Chiasto walked out semi drenched just wanting to change clothes.

_End Flashback:_

Gaara was almost in stitches, he was trying hard to contain himself but Michiyo's story was just too funny not to laugh. Michiyo finished taking a sip of her drink and another bite of bread.

"Whew, wow, that was great, but you know stuff like that seems to follow Naruto around a lot." Gaara took a piece of bread and broke it in half some kindly waiter had brought them butter in the middle of Michiyo's story and so he had something to put on it now.

"It's interesting how much happens to him," Michiyo sat quietly looking out into the room, she felt kinda at ease now. "As is it interesting how much happens to other Jinchuuriki's" She glanced up at him, Gaara seemed to be thinking rather seriously now.

He looked at her his eyes were kinda intense but at the same time relaxed; the circles around them had faded over the years slightly as he had been able to sleep just a little bit every once in awhile since his was taken away. "Mine's been gone for 3 years; I have nothing in common with Naruto now."

"Oh on the contrary," Michiyo waved her finger in front of his face in contradiction "You are similar on a more psychological level. One that goes deeper than just the Jinchuuriki." She lowered her hand and let it rest down on the table. She seemed a little sad but then lightened a little trying not too seem weird.

"You act like you know a lot about psychology." Gaara was intrigued she seemed to be able to tell what he was thinking and it scared him a little.

"Well personal experiences help out with that sort of thing," she answered "Besides, I tend to end up watching people from a distance. It's nice to know I'm not the only one." She smiled at him and then started to hum a tune that was very familiar to Gaara a song he once thought applied to him so very well, she broke the hum with a few lines. "I walk this empty street, on the boulevard of broken dreams."

Gaara smiled wide he knew the song very well and was glad someone else seemed to too, "It's also nice to know that I'm not the only one with good taste in music."

Michiyo grinned wide at the compliment, she absolutely loved flattery. "I have awesome taste in music."

Gaara returned to the serious talk. "Sand maybe flames ally, but we were leaves long before you came along. Not only that you attacked a leaf ninja, how can we trust you?"

Michiyo sighed and leaned back lowering her shades to show him her truth filled eyes. "I didn't kill him."

"It sure looked like you tried to." Gaara felt empty from such a hollow comment, she seemed to be holding something back but she seemed truthful too.

"If I wanted to I would have." Michiyo leaned back and looked up and away from him now, feeling compelled to say something she just couldn't get out. "But I didn't, and it's too bad that I have to do what I'm told because I would've loved to get to know him."

Gaara was very surprised he hadn't expected this "You want to talk to him?" he asked quizzically.

"Yes very much so, I have a lot of questions for him." replied Michiyo "Plus, we have a lot in common."

"Then go talk to him." Gaara motioned towards Sasuke with his head and gave her a reassuring smile.

"I can't just go talk to someone!" cried Michiyo she felt a sense of anguish rush over her but she kept herself cool "Are you crazy? I'd never just go up and talk to someone. Especially someone that I recently attacked." She lifted her shades above her eyes again thinking to herself.

"This coming from someone who just walked up and started to fight him?" Gaara's statement was over emphasized in sarcasm and it made Michiyo laugh.

"I didn't start the conversation, Kazuma did." Michiyo smiled and then added "I don't have the nerve to walk up and talk to someone." She blushed a little at her confession but she though he'd understand

"You're shy?" Gaara was surprised by the shaded girl again.

"Yes, kinda." Michiyo laughed. "It's kinda ironic since I love to talk so much."

"You didn't have any problem talking to me." Gaara gave her a funny look that made her laugh again.

"Well the bread started it." Grinned Michiyo. "But honestly, my hands are more clammy than usual. They seem to always do that though. I need to learn to relax. These lines on my face are from stress. At least that's what I think. I know someone else that has them, and I asked him once what caused them, but he never told me." She lifted up her sunglasses to reveal lines that started under her eye and went down and outward diagonally. "Another reason why I shouldn't go talk to Sasuke." she said. Gaara didn't know the connection, but hoped it wasn't something bad. Michiyo spotted a waving Kazuma off in the crowd and got up.

"I'm sorry Gaara, but there's someone I have to go see." She smiled and walked off. Gaara looked out and noticed Kazuma smiling at her as she ran up and walked with him up and onto the deck. Gaara decided that he'd go have a drink since he had lost his bread partner. He went over and stood at the bar with Sasuke, Neji, and Kiba who had just ordered a round of soda. The bar tender wasn't exactly paying attention and set a few beers on the counter as well.

"Hey guys, Sasuke you okay? Naruto fell on you right from the ceiling" Gaara walked up to the bar and ordered a drink as well.

"Yeah, well I suppose the worst that could happen is other ninja underestimating me now." Sasuke said miserably, he felt pretty foolish after that.

Lee turned to face him. "Don't worry Sasuke, we will fight you honorably if we have to" stated Lee. It was crowded around them with people ordering drinks and Neji saw the bartender put a bottle of beer out right next to Lee's soda. Lee however didn't notice and quickly grabbed the wrong bottle and opened it. Lee raised it to his lips and was about to start drinking it.

"No!" Neji cried and knocked him over. Lee looked startled but then realized what he had done.

"Oops." he said. They got up off the ground with a few people near looking at them. None of them but Sasuke understood what had happened.

"Yeah you need to be careful Lee we don't want anymore crazy things happening tonight." Sasuke was shaking his head, tonight had been bad and he knew it was going get worse when he heard the familiar voice of his partner Naruto.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Naruto asked Jumping into the group and grabbing a soda off the counter.

"Nothing." Sasuke smiled he had thought of a good joke and hoped the other guys would play along.

"Aw come on, tell me what you're talking about." begged Naruto, he always felt excluded from the other guys since he was rather unusual.

"Well I don't know if we can tell you." Sasuke smiled to himself and winked at the others.

"What is this, some kind of club?" asked Naruto he was very confused. "What do you guys have in common that I don't have with you guys?" Naruto couldn't think what Sasuke was getting at.

"Yeah, It's a club alright," said Sasuke he took a swig of his soda then finished "It's the 'We got our asses kicked by Naruto' club." Naruto laughed, but stopped when Sasuke and the others smiled and glared at him showing that they weren't too happy about him beating them so many times over.

"Well uh..." he said "It's not like I can help it, I'm just so great!" Naruto grinned ear to ear.

"Yeah sure you are Naruto" Neji patted him on the back hard following along with the joke, pushing him forward into Gaara.

"Yeah and cause you're so great you get a little treat we're each gonna get a free swing okay" Gaara laughed and threw Naruto to Kiba who turned him around a few times then and pushed him towards Sasuke

"Isn't this fun Naruto" Sasuke laughed, Naruto laughed too the guys weren't really hurting him they were just messing around and he was alright it was kinda something they did they'd beat on each other when they hung out cause they were guys but what happened next Sasuke didn't expect.

"And now for the boot" Sasuke turned Naruto and booted him in the butt not noticing the food cart that he had just pushed Naruto onto. Naruto rolled away fast screaming. "SHIT NARUTO!" Sasuke hadn't meant too push him onto a cart or anything.

"Damn that just….well…sucks." Neji took a drink of soda, Kiba too.

"Ugh, yeah know at this rate. I think I'd rather be drunk than have to be sober for this." Lee grabbed the bottle of beer and drank a long hard swig and the other guys nodded in agreement as Naruto's cart careened into a few people and then into the punch serving table.

Authors Note: Basic stuff. Sorry it took so long, just really lazy. My friends and Girlfriend helped a lot with this one and they're so supportive , the next chapters gonna have more action in it, and as you can tell this was kinda humor oriented after the first part but there was a rather important romance scene in there. And no Michiyo isn't interested in Gaara so stop thinking that you people out there .


	8. MiniChapter Naruto and Hinata 1

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Naruto. I am simply borrowing them to create a story of my own, each and all of the characters (excluding Cop's that shall be introduced later) are owned by someone else.

Authors note: This mini chapter is all about scenes between Hinata and Naruto. Thus it is dedicated to all my NaruXHina fans out there. Hinata maybe slightly OOC in these but in all seriousness its not that bad.  
Author's words and lyrics _Italics_

Trials of the Shinobi 

A Naruto Fan-Fiction

By Dark-Angel-Cronos

Mini Chapter 1- Hinata and Naruto 1

_Okay here's how mini-chapters work, they're simply small exert scenes that were either left out of the final product or are scenes that were never intended for the final product and are just something I'd like to add in now. Each scene will start where it should take place if it was in a chapter. _

Naru X Hina scene 1  
Setting: Right after Ino and Shino left during chapter 3

Hinata hesitated a little more as she took Naruto's side. Naruto felt his mouth begin to dry up. He tried to speak but no words came, all he could do was take her hand in his and lead her off to the side away from the others slightly.

"Naruto-kun where are we going?" Hinata was nervous he was pulling her away pretty hard.

"Just over here Hina-Chan" He turned catching her in his arms embracing her lovingly. Hinata let herself rest gently in his arms as he moved his head to whisper in her ear. "You look amazing Hina-Chan," Naruto let his lips graze the tip of her ear. Hinata drew in a breath; she loved the feeling of his breath on her skin.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun." Hinata leaned up and nuzzled her nose and lips against his neck lovingly. "I dressed up just for you." She gave him a kiss on the neck as she hugged him tight.

"You didn't have to do that Hina-Chan. Clothes or no clothes you look beautiful." Naruto leaned away from her so he could kiss her but was taken back when he saw little tears form around her eyes. "What? Was it something I said? Hinata what's wrong." He leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips trying to comfort her.

"You're just…" She sniffed hard wiping her eyes. He was so sweet to her. "I just love you so much Naruto-kun" She was regaining her composure "and you're just so sweet, and funny, and loving, and Oh my god I...I...I..." And she lost it again. Naruto hushed her before she began to cry.

"Its alright Hinata-Chan, I love you too" He kissed her lovingly. "It's alright, there's no need to cry okay Hina-Chan" Naruto hugged her close and kissed her lovingly on her cheeks and chin. She smiled at him and nestled her head into his chest

"Hold me, just hold me okay." She needed a little time to think, he was so sweet and he made her so happy she just wanted to cry. Naruto didn't answer he just held her close and kissed her forehead stroking her purple locks and letting his arm support her as she rested on his chest. The band had begun to play a song Naruto instantly knew. It was soft, the bass line simple and the guitar solo perfect for the mood. Naruto leaned in and began singing to Hinata.

"Look out your bedroom window. Can you see the stars" Naruto lifted her head and pointed up "How beautiful they are, I see them too" he smiled at her lovingly. She smiled too as they began to dance. "I feel like you're here beside me, even though we're far apart, because no matter where we are, I'm with you." He kissed her lovingly, she returned the kiss and held him tight not letting him break it as the danced. The band was still playing giving their moment even higher meaning.

_So take this letter I write today. Fold it up tight put it away._

_Because it says I'll always stay until every strand of hair fades to gray._

Naruto broke their kiss to Hinata's dismay. He continued singing to his lover bringing a smile back to her lips.

"Look at the moon she's smiling. Held tight by heavens arms." He held her closer.

"Heaven never lets her come to harm, she'll make it through" He brushed her hair back and pecked the top of her forehead.

"I write these words for you here then play it on my guitar, weather we be near or far, I'll come back to you." Naruto pulled away a little bit from her and pushed chakra to his finger and began to write in the air, still singing.

"So take this letter I write today." He wrote a large "I" in red chakra.

"Fold it up tight put it away!" He then wrote "Love". Hinata smiled, as she knew what was next.

"Because it says I'll always stay, until every strand of hair fades to gray" Naruto finished his love letter of chakra with a "you" and then drew a heart around it and gently pushed it to her. Hinata smiled lovingly and broke through the heart jumping into Naruto's arms and hugging him close.

_Shattered glass shoes underneath a sky of chandlers._

_One thousand cosmic candles crying silver shooting tears._

_Shattered glass shoes underneath a sky of chandlers._

_One thousand cosmic candles crying silver shooting tears._

_Shattered glass shoes underneath a sky of chandlers._

_One thousand cosmic candles crying silver shooting tears._

_So take this letter I write today._

Fold it up tight put it away.

_Because it says I'll always stay, until every strand of hair fades to gray._


End file.
